(2014) Dead End

by Jack Parker

  "I think I found it," she announced, ascending up a new flight of stairs that were hidden behind the door. Ash was soon to follow, noting the sound of the door closing quickly behind them.

  When Lari reached a dead end once more, she repeated the same action she had done on the first door. This new door revealed the other half of the tunnel they were once following.

  "Ooo, this is fun." A large smile was draped across Lari's lips as she started to head up the tunnel once more; the granite slab now at their backs.

  "You always liked an adventure."

  "Yeah, and it looks like we are about to have another one." Lari paused at another fork in their path to the top of the pyramid.

  * * *

  "Dara!" Dom was frozen in time. He couldn't more or even blink until he heard something he thought he would never hear again in a lifetime.

  "Ow…" Dara's voice was partly muffled from the distance she had fallen but it was still loud enough to get Dom moving.

  He walked cautiously to the pit in which she had fallen through. Laying on his stomach now, and using his flashlight to see beneath the pit.

  The first thing he saw was Dara's flashlight shining back at him, temporally blinding him, "Are you all right?"

  "Peachy, now get me out of here!" she was covered in a fine sand, making her usually black and shiny hair seem white and frail. The ever deeper hole next to her had claimed a broken heel belonging to one of her favorite black boots.

  "Dara, is there a door or a passageway near you?" his flashlight still focused on her alone.

  She glanced around, stopping when she noticed a passageway not twelve feet from the floor she was lying on, "There's a tunnel here to my right!" she called, pointing at they newly found exit with her right index finger.

  "Ok, don't move, I'll be down there as soon as I can." He stood up faster than he had laid down which soon made him regret his eagerness to get to her.

  The floor beneath him cracked and crumbled. He landed close to six feet away from Dara who now coughed slightly from the dust floating in the air.

  "Well, that works to." Dom looked around the slanted room to the passageway that Dara had so kindly mentioned, "We need to get up there."

  Their exit was soon cut off to them and filled with five menacingly-looking soldiers, each one holding freshly cocked guns.

  * * *

  Lari and Ash had split up when they reached the two tunnels to cover more ground. Lari had gone straight ahead while Ash continued to travel up to the kings chambers; the only place Ash really knew about.

  Lari's walk down the long and thankfully level passageway had been uneventful.

  No sound of bugs or other footsteps other than her own feet shuffling beneath her.

  The area in front of her had opened up and Lari immediately recognized the place as a burial chamber.

  The place seemed pillaged. Pots were shattered on the dirty floor and jewelry that was left behind was nearly broken beyond all recognition.

  She began looking in the few fully in tacked pots for the next clue but the pots held nothing, or at least not anymore.

  Lari then made her way over to the open sarcophagi. They were beautifully crafted with hieroglyphics and she suspected that they were even more beautiful when they were first made.

  She tried reading the engraved writing on one but could only make out a few letters; an 'N' here and an 'O' there. There was nothing she could do with only two letters.

  She attempted to read more until finding a large section with missing hieroglyphics. It looked to be a section made from the same plaster that had safeguarded the last clue in the depths of the Mediterranean Sea.

  Using the end of her flashlight, she pounded away at the rough plaster, unveiling yet another black box.

  "Bingo!" This box's lock was also broken, much like the last one, which made opening is a lot easier.

  "Bingo indeed," the new voice shocked her so much that she dropped the box and pivoted on her left foot to face the familiar person before her.

  * * *

  Almost five minutes after they split up, Ash experienced his first peril. Not keeping his attention to what was directly in front of him, Ash fell through a three-foot wide whole.

  Trying desperately to feel of something to grab onto, Ash half landed on a slanted slope in the small whole hole. He planted both of his feet down firmly, one small mistake and he would continue further down the well with no idea where it ended and Ash knew that he probably wouldn't like the landing.

  Flashlight clinging to his wrist with a band, Ash began the slow process of climbing up the seemingly forty feet he fallen. Each protruding rock was something Ash was hoping for, using them as steps and ladders to help the climbing process along.

  Every once in a while he would sustain a cut from jagged rocks, knowing in the back of his mind that he would have infections sooner or later.

  Finally, grabbing a hold of the edge of the hole, Ash heaved himself up; silently cursing when he realized that the tunnel still climbed upward.

  Every step he took made his legs feel all the heavier and his cracked and wounded hands ached, still dripping blood.

  He started cursing Murphy's Law when he came to a great stair. It was three feet tall and chipped in numerous spots. When climbing over it Ash soon sighed with relief when he at last got to walk on the flat surface that led to the king's large burial chamber.

  His flashlight wavered before going out, leaving Ash in total darkness. He slapped it with his hand a few times and it wavered once more; this time it stayed on.

  As he passed further and further into the chamber, noticing now that the walls were made of a deep shade of red granite.

  Up ahead was an even larger chamber, this one with a large sarcophagus near the wall on the opposite side of the entrance. It had to be the king's coffin but here was really no way of knowing since he had no guide or expert to tell him otherwise.

  He realized that there was a far greater amount of light in this chamber. Glancing toward the back of the room Ash saw two torches in their holders flickering and burning brightly.

  "Where did those come from?" Ash asked himself.

  "From me," a soldier answered from behind him.

  Ash quickly faced the soldier who also held a freshly cocked gun.

  * * *

  "Elias?" Lari had only met the man once but she never expected to see him again, "What are you doing here?"

  His black eyes fell to the shining black box, "Tracking you, my dear."

  Lari furrowed her eyebrows, "Why? Are you trying to protect the map like Dom said?" fear now evident in her eyes.

  "No, I am not apart of the Neves," he moved closer to her until he was only mere inches away from her, "I am apart of something far greater." His hand barely touched her cheek when she slapped it away and took several steps back; now her back was now pressed up against the wall with they only way out being blocked by Elias.

  "What are you then?" tears now lined her lower eyelids.

  "I am apart of an army that wishes to destroy the Neves. They hold the secrets to something that you could not even imagine and they are only a group of seven men and women." Elias informed her, "And I do believe that you have met at least two of them already."

  "So you want to destroy the map pieces." She said finally catching on.

  "You learn quickly. We could have used someone like you on our team," he took a moment to look her over, "Pretty to; such a pity."

  Elias pulled out a gun from his belt and took off the safety. And then a shot was fired.

  Chapter Eight

  Finding a Way – Part Two

  In the Pits

  The sound of the gunshot reverberating in all of the tunnels gave enough of a distraction for Dom to make his move.

  Noticing the hole next to him, a light bulb of sorts went off in his little head with quite an idea.

  Guns pointed mainly at Dara after her many foolish attempts to run, Dom reached for the automatic gun that w
as closest to him.

  The soldier, who was small in stature, was not expecting his gun to be taken from him. Nor was he expecting to be used as a human shield, either.

  The other four soldiers didn't dare fire at Dom; knowing that if they did, the ceiling of the pit would most certainly come crumbling down on top of them, burying them alive. It was a miracle that the first gunshot hadn't caused any damage, save more sand falling like rain onto the many occupants of the pit.

  Pulling Dara behind him, Dom slowly circled the soldiers until there backs were directly in front of the other pit and Dom and Dara's backs were to the door the soldiers came through.

  Knowing that the soldiers would be ready to give chase the moment they dashed out of the pit, Dom pushed his human shield toward his comrades, causing all four to loose balance and fall in the pit.

  Once their screams of agony had died away, Dom and Dara started the journey up, up to find their friends hopefully alive.

  * * *

  The Queen's Chamber

  Elias' gun fell to the ground before he did; gunshot through his back and into his heart. Not five feet behind him, Ash stood with a gun of his very own.

  "Ash," Lari breathed; all fears leaving her with that single word.

  Ash pulled her to him, looker to see if she had been injured before he had arrived.

  "I'm okay," she answered the question that he was dying to ask her, "The box."

  Near where Elias had faller was the little black box Lari had found just minutes ago. Ash picked it up and laid it on the edge of the sarcophagus nearest to him to open it.

  "Ash, how did you get here so fast? I thought you would be in the king's chambers." Lari said; not at all sad that he wasn't there now.

  "I was in the king's chambers, and I too was held at gunpoint," Ash began, taking his attention off of the box, "I just knew some things that he didn't."

  * * *

  The King's Chambers

  Ten Minutes Earlier

  "You have the map pieces, Mr. Zaztep." Stated the soldier, gun aimed at Ash's heart.

  "How would you know?" The soldier smiled at the question asked.

  "We have been following you for a few days now," The soldier dropped the gun to his side and started to slowly pace the side of the room with Ash's exit, "We even tracked your father here before we took him last week."

  Ash fought hard to control his anger and clenched hit fists instead, making them bleed once more.

  The soldier's pacing soon came to an end, leaving the door unguarded. It was either die here or at least make some what of an effort to escape.

  He chose to escape.

  Running madly, Ash sped past the armed soldier and into the next chamber; two bullets flew after him but missed their target by mere inches.

  The Great Stair was up ahead and it was a whole lot easier to jump down then trying to climb up it.

  More gunshots were fired but were ceased when the owner of the gun needed to reload; slowing down and no longer paying attention to his path.

  Ash jumped with ease over the well he had previously fallen into and ran a bit more; hiding behind the wall of the passage that led to the Queen's Chambers and to Lari.

  He heard what he was hoping for: gunshots stopping and the soldier's agonizing screams.

  Back-tracking to the well, Ash picked up the fallen soldier's gun that he had so kindly dropped before falling. Then Ash ran to the Queen's Chambers, sensing that he wasn't the only one who had seen a soldier or two.

  * * *

  Queen's Chambers

  Present

  "Well I'm glad that you came to my rescue, or else… you know." Lari said, realizing for the first time that she very well could had died tonight; or morning, depending on how you looked at it.

  "Enough about what could have happened," Ash gave her a warm and gentle smile before opening the box for the clue. The smile soon faded from his chapped lips, "Our quest for the next map piece isn't over just yet."

  "What do you mean?" Lari hastily made her way over to his side and the box before sighing in frustration; both hands pulling at her long burgundy hair.

  Inside the box was a decrepit god-plated key shaped like a triangle. In the center was the famous all seeing eye.

  * * *

  First Ascending Passage

  Dom and Dara stood silently in front of a large granite slab blocking their way.

  "Do you think that they went outside to wait for us?" Dara asked, disrupting the creepy silence between the two.

  "They would have come to us if they couldn't pass through here," Dom was now looking at the footprints that covered the ground, "They found another way."

  Dom stopped at a section of the wall where the footprints seemed to have ended. Pushing on the wall, it opened like it had for Lari and Ash.

  "I guess they went this way," Dom said and began ascending the staircase with Dara following closely behind.

  * * *

  "And we are supposed to know what door will open by this key?" Lari kicked the gun away from Elias' cold and pale fingers.

  The gun flew further than she had anticipated and into a small and overlooked door.

  Flashlights immediately pointed in the direction of the new found passage way.

  "Why do you have all the luck?" Ash remembered his many perils at that moment before cutting ahead of her to the entryway. Low and behold…more stairs. More sharp, uneven, narrow looking stairs.

  "I am so looking forward to getting out of here." Said Ash; already twenty steps up.

  "So am I," agreed Lari, who was just now beginning to hate rising passageways herself.

  Toward the end of the stairs it really got narrow. Arms had to be held in from of their chests and every rock on the ground was a hazard to step over.

  Reaching the top, Ash pulled Lari up through the hole, both now staring at another dead end.

  "Well this was a wasted trip," Lari was about to climb back down when Ash pulled the key out his jean pocket.

  "Not necessarily," The hieroglyphics and the symbol matched that of the ones at the top of the wall perfectly.

  Ash being quite tall, reached for the top of the wall with ease, key in hand.

  At first nothing seemed to happen but soon the door popped back; now partly ajar.

  Ash pushed it open the rest of the way and shined light on the subject of the new room. Other than several large spider webs there didn't seem to be anything else present. That is until Lari came into the room.

  Without even looking hard, Lari spotted another box behind one of the overly large webs.

  "It's over there," Lari motioned with her head to the web.

  Ash seemed to be glued to the floor, waiting for Lari to retrieve the box she found.

  "I'm not touching that web!" Ash laughed then pulled down the web covering the box, shaking his hand violently to throw the sticky web off.

  Lari grabbed the box and held it to her chest, "We should go find Dom and Dara now," she suggested, moving past him to the stairs once more.

  "Wait," Lari paused, "Shouldn't we look at it first?"

  Lari threw open the lid and pulled out the map piece, waving it in front of her, "Now can we go find the other half of our party?" Ash was about to walk past her down the stairs when she stopped him with a smirk on her face, "Ladies first."

  * * *

  Dom's expression was a grim one as he hunched over the dead body of Elias, "I guess we know where the gunfire came from." Dom said, picking up the dead hand and dropping it.

  Distorted voices sounded nearby, startling the pair. What startled them more was what came next.

  "Dom?" an unknowing voice rang through the chamber, making both Dom and Dara scream in fright until the owner of the voice revealed itself.

  Lari was laughing so hard that tears were slowing rolling down her now flushed cheeks while Ash was soon to do the same.

  "Yeah, laugh it up," Dom said angrily.

  "I'm…sorry…Dom," Lari managed to say between
laughing breaths.

  Dom heaved an angry sigh, "I hope you and Ash found the next clue because all Dara and I found were some unwanted guests and pits."

  "The clue and a key," Ash stated, tossing the items to Dom.

  Dom then opened the box to view its contents, "'On all this, the earth had been piled… Diodorus Siculus.'"

  "He was one of the Greek and Roman observers to the Seven Wonders." Lari informed them while racking her brain for the answer to the clue.