THE ANCIENT ONES

“Let’s keep going, guys.” Beatrice Cunningham put a hand up to shield her eyes. The scorching heat from the sun not only blinded her but was making her a little queasy. Still, she couldn’t give up the find, a brilliant discovery. The bills weren’t paying themselves. Beatrice needed something, anything to get her out of debt. Her crew was in the same boat. They had to make a breakthrough or it was over. Her father, Eli, clarified it. He wasn’t funding her little ‘expeditions’ anymore.

“I think we should give up now, Tish.”

Henry, one of Beatrice’s oldest friends gazed at her. He took off his hat and fanned himself. He wiped the sweat from his brow. His face was coated with dirt from the digs along with his blond hair. Beatrice sighed. The others looked worn out. They leaned against the dusty door of their latest dig. Beatrice grabbed two canteens out of the back.

“I guess you’re right, Hank,” she tossed him a canteen. “We’re dying of thirst out here. Maybe we should head back to camp.”

Henry smiled. He popped open the lid and took a few, long gulps of water. He rolled his eyes at the refreshing taste. Beatrice grinned and went to her other three teammates. She handed them the canteens. They thanked her and took a sip of water.

“Let’s pack it up.”

“Are you sure?” Walter asked.

Beatrice would probably regret it later. She wanted to make a discovery but not at the cost of her and her team dying of heatstroke. She noticed a faint light illuminating from a crack in the wall outside the cave.

“What’s that?” she moved past Walter.

“Tish, come on.”

“Just a minute, Hank.” Beatrice jogged over to the crack. She kicked it with her boot. The dust chipped away to reveal more of the golden light. Beatrice gazed in awe. She had seen nothing like it. Steve crept closer to the cave. He paused at the entrance.

“Get the torches,” she said. “We’re heading down there!”

Jack hung back. Beatrice rolled her eyes. Jack feared everything. She didn’t think the life of a treasure hunter suited him. He should’ve taken a desk job at her dad’s office.

“We’ll have a quick look and come right back.”

When the others offered no sign or protest, Jack sighed defeated. Beatrice smirked. He was too much of a coward to remain here on his own. He followed them with slumped shoulders. Steve was the first one to run ahead. Beatrice called for him but he was too far in. She entered the cave and a chill went through her. Steve came back with a huge grin on his face.

“I think we hit the jackpot,” he exclaimed. “There’s some great finds down here!”

Beatrice brushed passed him and hurried down the halls. The air was suffocating but she didn’t mind. She found the further they went the suffocating feeling dissipated and the cooler it got. She tried to locate the source of the mysterious light but it was gone. Beatrice found a torch on the wall. She used her torch to light it. The room illuminated with gold walls lined with weird markings. Beatrice studied the markings. Ancient Egyptian.

“What is this place?” Henry whispered.

Beatrice studied Hieroglyphics a little but Henry was the expert. Beatrice waited for him to translate the text. Walter and Jack stood beside them.

“The followers of Sekhmet are buried here,” Henry translated. “Along with their belongings. Some of these symbols are ruined so it’s hard to make out the rest.”

“There’s something else up here.”

Beatrice followed Steve. She couldn’t quite put her finger on it but something wasn’t right here. Goosebumps broke out on her arms and her hair stood up on the back of her neck. Beatrice tried to shake the queasy feeling in her stomach. Steve led them to a door in the middle of the cave. The door didn’t look like it would lead anywhere.

“What the hell?” Jack whispered.

Beatrice agreed. The only thing surrounding the door was dirt. Steve brushed some dirt away. He pushed on it. The door opened with a loud creak. Beatrice was blinded by a light coming out of the room. It was treasure. Mounds and mounds of rubies, emeralds, sapphires, and gold. Henry put his torch in the holder on the wall.

“This can’t be real,” he muttered. “We’ve never made a discovery like this.”

“That’s because Ned and his team would score the good spots,” Steve said. “Thank god we decided to move further up during the dig.”

Beatrice couldn’t hear a word of her team’s banter. This room was magnificent. She didn’t realize her mouth was hanging open until drool slipped down her chin. Beatrice cleared her throat and wiped her mouth. She had been waiting her whole life for a discovery like this. She would be set for life if she took just a handful of these trinkets home with her. She wanted more. She needed to know if there was more to this place.

“Don’t touch anything,” she said. “Let’s see what else we can find.”

“Sure thing, boss,” Steve said.

Beatrice giggled as he picked up a gold chalice from one pile and pretended to drink for it. Beatrice moved further back through the room. She saw another door. The others followed her. Beatrice pressed on the door and it opened to reveal another room. Beatrice couldn’t believe her eyes. Eight sarcophagi were lined up in the room. There were four on one side and four on the other. A beautiful crystal path of water ran around a much larger sarcophagus in the center of the room. It was made of gold and decorated with blood, red jewels. A warrior was carved on the lid of the eight decorated with sapphire jewels.

“I guess these are the followers of Sekhmet,” Henry said.

“These guys were buried in luxury,” Walter said with a whistle. “Even the walls are made of gold.”

“This is impossible,” Jack said. “A place like this can’t exist. Where is the water coming from? There’s no way it could get in.”

Beatrice didn’t understand it either. This room was on a different plane of reality. Still, they had come this far. She wanted to see what was inside the sarcophagi. She gave the order to the team to open the sarcophagi. It was evening by the time each was opened. They lined the lids against the wall. It took them all to move the lids one at a time. There were strange men inside. The men didn’t have names carved onto their resting places nor in their graves. Another strange thing was that the men had not decayed. They had to have been there for a hundred years or more.

“This is so freaking, weird,” Steve said. “Not a sign of decay.”

Beatrice turned her gaze to the larger sarcophagus surrounded by the water. She went over to it and tried to pry open the lid. Her team saw her struggling and joined her. Beatrice left her team to it and studied the lid. There was nothing written anywhere about a curse not that Beatrice believed in curses anyway.

“Got it!”

The lid landed loudly on the floor. Beatrice coughed as the dust picked up around them. After it settled she peered into the sarcophagus. A man slept with not a sign of decay. Dark, curly hair was in disarray on his head. He wore none of the Egyptian outfits she’d seen. The eight men didn’t either. The man’s skin was pale and beautiful like a porcelain doll. He was handsome even in death.

“He’s like the rest of them,” Henry said.

Beatrice caught an engraving inside the man’s coffin. This she could easily read. “Ignatius Balthazar,” she read. “King of the first species and follower of Sekhmet.”

“First species?” Walter frowned. “Of humans? Impossible.”

Beatrice shrugged. “Or the first king of the Egyptians.”

“These men are probably his loyal servants,” Jack said. “They went with him on his journey to the afterlife.”

“How do you know?” Beatrice asked.

“Lucky guess.”

Beatrice studied the writing in Ignatius’ sarcophagus. He didn’t look Egyptian. His servants were the same. Perhaps they liked the culture in their lives. As the team studied the servants, Beatrice found herself drawn to Ignatius. It was silly to be drawn to a dead man but he was just the discovery that would make her dad proud. They had to wrap this up. It would be dark soon.

“We should get going,” she said. “We can come back tomorrow.”

“She’s right,” Jack said. “We can get a better handle on things once we have some daylight.”

“Best discovery yet,” Steve said.

Beatrice was about to say something but the cave shook. She tried to find something to grab onto but the walls were smooth. Beatrice moved to the entrance but dirt and debris fell into her path.

“Let’s get out of here,” she screamed. “The cave’s collapsing!”

She led them back into the treasure room. Steve ran to the rubies and tried to grab a few. Beatrice rolled her eyes. They didn’t have time for this.

“Steve, come on!” Beatrice shouted running from the room.

Before Steve could catch up to them, the ceiling of room collapsed on top of him. Walter screamed and tried to go back for Steve. Beatrice grabbed him. They ran through the tunnels but Beatrice was so in a panic she didn’t remember the way out.

“We should have never opened the sarcophagi,” Jack said in tears. “We should have left everything as it was.”

Beatrice didn’t want to think of that now. She held onto Walter and Henry as they made their way through the collapsing caves. The floors gave way underneath them. Walter screamed when he and Jack slipped through one crack.

“Walter, Jack!” Henry screamed.

They disappeared into the blackness below. A sob escaped Beatrice’s lips. She shouldn’t have brought them here. She was too greedy. She was too ambitious. They lost their lives because of her. She and Henry made it through a door she didn’t know was there. The caves continued to shake. Henry grabbed her hand and led her to an opening in one wall. It was only big enough for one person to slide through. He pushed her inside. Beatrice slid back a little to let him in but he shook his head.

“Hank,” she whispered.

“Go. Get out of here and find help!”

Beatrice grabbed his hand. “I’m not leaving without you.”

Henry leaned into the hole and kissed her lips. Beatrice let out a sob. He pulled back as the room collapsed around him. Beatrice tried again to pull him into the hole but he wouldn’t budge.

“I love you, Tish. I always have. Did you know that?”

Beatrice didn’t get to answer. The room came down on top of Henry causing his hand to be wrenched from her grasp. Beatrice screamed. She crawled out of the hole to the other side. Soot covered her face and she was riddled with cuts and bruises. By the time the rumblings stopped, she could barely stand in the caves. Beatrice crawled around in the darkness. The light that illuminated the caves was nowhere in sight.

“Okay,” she whispered. “Just look for a light source. Any light source.”

Beatrice kept crawling but she paused every now and then when she heard the slightest noise. She felt her way through the blackness that blinded her. Panic consumed her. If she didn’t find a light source soon, she would lose it. Her hands landed on a fabric. Beatrice squeaked. She felt around more and discovered that it was a pants leg. It must be Walter or Steve.

“Walter,” she whispered. “Steve?”

“Tish,” the voice groaned out.

It was Steve. Beatrice felt around until she got to his face. He was badly injured. She felt a sticky substance which was blood. His breathing was shallow. Beatrice felt around more until she found his pockets. A smile crept to the corners of her mouth. She found a flashlight. She pushed the button up but no light came out.

“Come on,” she hissed, beating the flashlight against her palm. “Work!”

The flashlight was broken. With a scream, Beatrice flung it across the room. She heard it hit one wall and land with a thud. Steve groaned again. She had to get him out of here.

“Steve. Listen.”

A noise to the left startled her. Beatrice strained her eyes to see through the blackness. It was a movement. Beatrice placed a hand on Steve’s leg. Steve’s leg jerked under her palm. He noticed it too. Steve screamed. Beatrice felt someone or something tugging him away from her. Whatever it was had a lot more strength than she did. In one fell swoop, Steve was wrenched out of her hands. Beatrice fell forward as Steve’s screams got further and further away. She tried to follow the sound but it was too dark. Beatrice whimpered. She pulled her knees up and rested on her chin on them.

“Please, God, please,” she whispered rocking back and forth.

She waited with baited breath. She prayed that whatever it was wouldn’t come back for her. As she waited, she drifted off to sleep.

Beatrice was jolted away by a chill. Blue light entered the caves. It had to be early in the morning. It was still too dark to see. Beatrice had to get out of here. She would run out of air soon. She crawled along to the back of the room. The entrance to the sarcophagus room had been sealed off but she felt around for another way in. She found a small opening and crawled through.

Beatrice came out at the base of the largest sarcophagus. Beatrice gripped the side and used it to stand. Her legs gave out from her crouching for so long. Her hand fell into Ignatius’ resting place. Beatrice’s blood went ice cold. There was nothing there. There had to be a logical explanation. He had fallen out with the cave shaking. Beatrice checked the floor in a panic. He wasn’t on the floor. She peered into the water surrounding the sarcophagus but it wasn’t deep enough for him to fall in and disappear. He wasn’t there either.

Another rumble went through the caves. Beatrice jumped when the room illuminated again. She could see. She glanced at the other sarcophagi and noticed six were empty and the two that weren’t looked strange. The men were no longer men but hideous creatures. Blood caked their mouths. Beatrice didn’t want to stay in this place any longer.

She ran from the room. She made it back to the treasure room. There were drag marks of blood on the floor. It had to be Steve’s blood. Beatrice hurried down the hall without. She heard weird noises but she ignored them. The sooner she was out of this place the better. Relief flooded her features when she saw Walter alive. He crawled up the ramp to where she was.

Beatrice was about to go to him but one of Ignatius’ followers jumped on his back. His face had changed. He attacked him. Beatrice hid and closed her eyes at Walter’s scream of pain. It was eating him. She heard slurping and it made her gag.

Beatrice ran through her mental database. Sekhmet drank blood. She drank the blood, red water of the Nile to save humanity. Her bloodlust was used to explain war and conflict in Egypt. She protected Pharaohs. Ignatius was a king. Perhaps he looked to Sekhmet to protect him in life. Beatrice’s heart pounded to the point it hurts. Ignatius and his followers probably drank the blood of their enemies. They were like vampires or ghouls.

“Sekhmet’s ghouls,” she said with a laugh. “Some discovery, Tish.”

The creatures snarled in her direction. Beatrice crawled away before he could smell her. Another one of Ignatius’ followers came from the direction of the sarcophagus room. It saw her and moved toward her with incredible speed. Beatrice darted to the side, hitting her shoulder on the wall. She crawled through another opening. This opening she could stand in. Beatrice ignored her aching shoulder and ran as fast as she could. She heard them hissing behind her. She tripped over something but she didn’t see what it was. Beatrice got to her feet and ran. She almost laughed at the stream of light.

Beatrice dived into the light as the creatures clawed at her. They didn’t come into the light. They watched her with glowing, white eyes. They disappeared back into the blackness.

Beatrice wiped the sweat from her brow. She made it. She was out. She survived although her team didn’t. Beatrice would honor them later. She stood and brushed the dirt from her torn khakis. She headed back to her car where she saw Henry lying in a pool of his own blood at least what was left of Henry. Beatrice covered her mouth. The lower part of his body was torn apart. His empty eyes stared up at the sky. She heard low growls coming from beside Jack’s car.

Beatrice ducked down. Jack’s body hit the door of his jeep repeatedly. Jack had made it out and had been trying to leave. Beatrice swallowed as she crept around his jeep. Jack’s back was eaten away to his skeleton. Beatrice cupped her mouth tightly to keep from screaming. It was Ignatius. He was still feeding on Jack. Beatrice saw her jeep in the distance. She threw caution out the window and ran for it. She didn’t know if Ignatius saw her and she didn’t care.

Beatrice laughed when she got her hand on the door handle. She pulled open the door and tried to climb in but she wasn’t fast enough. Ignatius pulled her from the jeep. Beatrice tried to fight him off. His milky white eyes stared down at her. He ran back into the cave with her in tow. His followers came out to meet him. Beatrice screams of terror echoed throughout the caves as she was ravished by Ignatius and his followers.