Everyone deals with grief in different ways, some isolate themselves, others seek distractions and some feel the need to be surrounded by loved ones. Unfortunately for me, I don't have the luxury to do any of those options. The life I knew before, was over. Within the span of a couple of days, the family I once knew and loved is now gone. In the end, I was all alone.
I was still curled up into a ball in the alleyway, next to David's body. I couldn't bring myself to leave him by himself. Even if the mob of Imhotep's followers was to come back, I was ready to face death. I felt as though I had nothing to live for. With them gone, I had no indication of which direction my life was going, shattered into a million pieces, there was no hope in fixing this.
I was willing to stay in that alleyway until help had arrived, but then the rats started emerging. They were drawn to David's corpse and were trying to take any salvageable flesh with them. I got up so fast and started scaring the rats away from David. I knew I wouldn't be able to keep them off all night. I contemplated what my next move was. I knew I had to get David out of this alley, but I didn't know how to manage it.
"Dammit! What should I do?" I asked myself. Usually, I would have Isaac offering some insight on what to do, but now that he is not here, I don't have any guidance.
The sound of a bottle falling and hitting the floor startled me as it broke the silence. I looked towards that direction, trying to find where that noise came from. When I saw a glass bottle rolling out of the corner of an alley. Could it be Imhotep's followers? My heart started racing, as I looked over David's corpse and noticed the two pistols he had dropped earlier. I grabbed one of the pistols, knowing well that there were no bullets left in the revolver. I inched my way closer, pulling the hood of my cloak over my head, while holding the gun in my only good hand.. I put my back against the wall, so that whoever it was won't attack from behind me. I peaked around the corner to see a bunch of crates and boxes sitting in the corner. I thought nothing of it, until the tarp on one of the crates moved. I knew that something or someone was in there. I didn't hesitate and walked towards the tarp and pulled it off the crate. Pointing the empty gun towards a little boy, who was using the crates as his hiding spot. Cowering in fear, the little boy held both his hands up and he was speaking in Arabic, as if he was pleading for his life. Realizing what I had done, I lowered the gun to show the boy that I mean no harm.
"Oh my god." I blurted aloud.
I pulled the boy out of the crate using my uninjured hand, as I took notice how light the boy was, as it took little effort to pull him out. Once the boy was standing on his feet, I looked over to see if he was injured. Luckily he only had some scratches and bruising, but he was shaken up.
"Are you ok?" I had asked, but the boy didn't say anything.
"Where are your parents?" But of course, the little boy started crying and continued to speak in Arabic. I felt so bad, because I couldn't understand him. This poor boy, I can only imagine what he has gone through all by himself. I did not know what to do, so I thought of the most logical thing to do. As I put away the revolver, I took my cloak off and wrapped it around the boy as a way to shelter him and show that he is safe. I held that little boy so tight, that he too started hugging me back.
Although I had never met this boy before, and I am but a stranger to him, I can sense he was grateful that I had found him.
*Crash*
My heart started racing as the sound of an object breaking, startled the boy and I. "It's not safe here," I muttered under my breath. As I drew the fearful child closer to me, I looked around to see if there was anywhere we could take shelter for just a brief moment from the streets of Cairo. I was hesitant to leave David, but now with a child involved, I knew I had to find somewhere to take refuge. I picked up the boy with my only free arm and traveled deeper into the bizarre in hopes to find somewhere to rest. We walked through the alleys of the bizarre, carefully treading through the streets, making sure my feet were light and my steps were quiet. As we continued to walk further into the bizarre, we had stumbled upon the car in which David and I were ejected from. By the looks of it, it crashed into a fountain, abandoned. My only thoughts were if the rest of the group had managed to escape or not.
I walked closer to the car, but as we did, a pile of corpses were just a few feet away from it. I go to grab the little boy, turning his head towards my chest in order to shelter him from the grave encounter in which we stumbled upon. As I looked over to realize, one person amongst the men on the floor was Dr. Terrence Bay.
He had stab wounds to every orifice on his body, almost unrecognizable if not for the clothing he wore. I shut my eyes and continued to bring the child closer to me, as a way to comfort myself. Even though I only had the pleasure to have met Dr. Terrence for a short time, it was still upsetting to see him murdered. As I looked around, I noticed a sword to which I believe Dr. Terrence had used it to defend himself, along with an opened sewage hole.
I wonder if they had all escaped, or did they get trapped in the sewers?
That was all I could think of. If they were to have escaped, they would surely try and take Evelyn far away from Cairo. But if they didn't, that only meant that I was the only survivor of the group. How did this come to be? I was not prepared for this kind of journey. But the more time I waste trying to put the pieces together, the more Imhotep is getting closer to destroying humanity. Setting the boy down on the floor, I went to see how much damage the car took. As I looked over in the ignition to see that the keys were still there. A sigh of relief escaped from my mouth, realizing that this is our chance to escape the city. I went to grab Dr. Bay's sword from the floor as it was the only option I had of protecting this boy. Grabbing the boy's hand, we walked back to the car, placing the sword in the back seat and opening the door for the boy to hop in.
"Come on, we gotta get out of the city." I stated.
As the little boy jumped in, I went to sit behind the steering wheel and used the key in the ignition to start the car.
As I turned the key, the struggle of the car turning on was echoing through the bizarre. Worried that this might alert more of Imhotep's followers, I kept turning the key to the on position, until the sudden roar of the engine purring grew and I was relieved to hear that this car was still working.
"Oh thank god."
Placing the gear in reverse, I managed to pry the car out of its crash site and accelerated forward to leave the area. Luckily for me I was able to remember how to drive a car, given that the last time I drove one it was with Isaac teaching me. There were a lot of things that were running through my mind as I was driving through the city, but I had to push those thoughts farther down as I was trying to conjure a plan for what to do next. While driving, I kept looking over the back seat, keeping an eye on the boy who was keeping an eye on the road, eager to see where we were going. Not paying attention to the road ahead, three figures appeared in my vision as I pressed on the brakes so fast to avoid hitting them, my head whipped back and my first intention was to ensure that the boy was uninjured. Relieved to see that the boy was unharmed, my name was called out.
When I came to, my vision cleared and the three figures before me were those of Rick, Jonathan and Ardeth. "Oh my god" I uttered as I was climbing out of the car to greet the three.
As I did, they too were stunned to realize that it was me as they greeted me with open arms.
"Are you ok?" asked Rick.
"I'm fine. I'm just glad to see you guys safe." I replied. Looking at the group to realize that Evelyn was absent. "Wait, where's Evelyn?"
The expression on Rick's face when I asked the question was of anger, "He took her..." He responded. I turn to Jonathan, with a worried look on his face, ensuring me that the creature took Evelyn as his prisoner.
"Is the car running well?" asked Rick to which I responded, "Yes, but I don't know how far it will take us?"
"I'll take a look at it." stated Jonathan as he went to go inspect the car and its damages.
"Who's the kid?" asked Jonathan. I looked back to see the little boy, curious to see who the man was. "I found him hiding in an alley, scared and alone. I couldn't just leave him."
"I guess it's a good thing he found you then." replied Rick.
Just as we were about to walk back to the car, Ardeth grabs my hand and pulls me to the side.
"Anna.... have you seen Terrance?"
A knot developing in my throat, the words couldn't come out. Realizing how hard the news of Dr. Bey's death will be, I go to grab the sword from the back seat of the car and as I walk back with the sword in my hands, Ardeth's eyes widen.. "I'm sorry.... he...... he didn't make it." I say, tears welting from my eyes, I handed the sword over to Ardeth. He stood there silent for a moment, holding Dr. Bey's sword with both hands.
"I'm so sorry Ardeth. I didn't know what to do, and this was all that I could bring with me. I just wished I could have been there to..." just before I could finish, Ardeth wrapped his arms around me as if he was shielding me from seeing his face. I felt the tears falling down the side of my cheeks as I hugged him back, sniffling into his shoulder.
"I'm just glad, you are safe." He whispered in my ear. "I'm sorry about David, Anna."
I hugged him tighter and closer to me as we both took a moment to grieve into each other's arms. In that moment, the realization that my friends were dead, killed by the monster, Imhotep, was settling in. My true feelings were emerging as I finally took comfort in someone else, who also shared the same emotions as me.
"What now?" I whispered. Ardeth looked me in the eyes to respond, "Now, we fight back."
I wiped the tears from my face as we walked towards the car. Jonathan behind the wheels, ready for our departure and Rick being in the passenger seat next to him.
I climbed over the car to sit next to the little boy, Ardeth pausing for a second to realize that he wasn't going to sit next to me. Instead, he went around to the otherside of the car to have the boy sit in between us.
Jonathan accelerated the car as we made our way out of Cairo.
"What's the creature's plan now?" I had asked.
Ardeth sighed as he was preparing to explain, "Now that he's fully regenerated, he's returning to Hamunaptra to resurrect Anack Su Namun and use his newfound powers to destroy the world."
The ever pending doom of the world was drawing near, but there was something I couldn't quite understand. Maybe they found some insight into Imhotep's intentions. "Why did he take Evelyn?" I had asked.
Rick, without breaking eye contact from the road, explained, "He's going to use her as a vessel to bring his lover back from the dead." So that is why he was so keen to keep Evelyn close. He knew he was going to kill her, just like he did with my friends. I continued to question, "But Hamunaptra is at least a three day journey. How are we going to get there before he does?"
Rick, obviously getting irritated with all of my questions, then goes on to explain, "I know this guy, a Red Baron, his air field is just a couple hours from Cairo. He'll get us to Hamunaptra."
Jonathan now chiming into the conversation, "How will we know he is willing to fly us there?"
Rick gives Jonathan a side eye to only say, "Oh he will."
Not long after that conversation, we had made it out of the city or Cairo and we were heading out to see this friend of Rick. The little boy looked back over to see the city then gave a sigh of relief and proceeded to lean his head against me. Ardeth looked over, witnessing how close the little boy was to me, he raised an eyebrow towards the boy. I took notice and questioned him. "What?"
Not realizing that I was looking, he looked at me and said, "Nothing, does he have a name?"
"He's not a dog." I taunted and continued to say, "and no, I couldn't ask him."
Ardeth then asked the boy in Arabic what his name was. The little boy then said, "Qasim."
Qasim, that was his name, you can tell he was nervous around Ardeth as he gripped my arm tighter, trying to stay as far away from Ardeth as possible.
"He definitely likes you Anna." Ardeth responds.
Looking down at Qasim, he started talking to me in Arabic.
"What did he say?" I asked Ardeth.
Ardeth gave a faint smile and said, "He said, that you are an angel, sent from heaven to save him." I gave Qasim a soft smile and held him closer to me.
Our drive to the air field seemed like it was forever. All while driving, we were silent. Maybe it was to keep our focus on the objective, or maybe it was to avoid the question that each one of us are dreading to ask. 'Are you ok?'
If I'm being honest, no I was not ok. The deaths of my friends were finally sinking in, not only that, but for the first time in forever, I felt as though I was completely and utterly alone. The events of that night in Silver City kept repeating back in my head. Thinking of ways for me to change the outcome in hopes that my friends would still be alive today. They were the closest people I had to a family. But maybe I was the one to blame for all these unfortunate events. After all, I did leave them first. I was the one who left for Silver City.
'This is Silver City all over again!'
Isaacs voice resonates in my memories as I realize that maybe I never treated them as family. Especially Isaac, who I kept pushing away even when he tried his best to stop me. But even when I did, he was still there, waiting for me back home.
'We'll go back together.'
I'm sorry Isaac. You deserved more than what I could have given you. But maybe, you were who I needed all along. The break of dawn emerged, the sun shining its bright warm rays through the desert of Egypt. A tear flowed down the side of my cheek, as this was probably the first time that I would not be able to share the same sun with my three friends ever again.