نفرین آرامگاه مومیایی فصل 15

The Curse Of The Mummy’s Tomb - Chapter 15

A mummy! I thought.

My entire body convulsed with fear.

The scorpions snapped and scrabbled at my feet.

The strong hands gripped my shoulders, pulled me hard.

The ancient, bandaged hands.

I couldn’t breathe. I couldn’t think.

Finally, I managed to spin around.

“Sari!” I cried.

She gave me one more tug. We both stumbled backwards, claws snapping up at us.

“Sari—how—?”

We moved together now, making our way toward the center of the vast chamber.

Safe. Safe from the disgusting nest of snapping scorpions.

“Saved your life,” she whispered. “Yuck. Those are gross!”

“Tell me about it,” I said weakly. I could still feel the hideous creatures sliding along my ankles, still feel them slithering between my legs, crunching under my sneakers.

I don’t think I’ll ever forget that crunching sound.

“What are you doing down here?” Sari cried impatiently, as if scolding a child. “Daddy and I have been looking everywhere for you.” I pulled her even farther from the scorpions, into the center of the chamber. “How did you get down here?” I cried, struggling to calm my breathing, struggling to stop the pounding in my chest.

She pointed with her flashlight to a tunnel in the corner that I hadn’t seen. “I was searching for you. Daddy and I got separated. Do you believe it? He stopped to talk to a worker, and I didn’t realize it. By the time I turned back, he was gone. Then I saw the light moving around in here. I thought it was Daddy.” “You got lost, too?” I asked, wiping beads of cold sweat off my forehead with the back of my hand.

“I’m not lost. You’re lost,” she insisted. “How could you do that, Gabe? Daddy and I were totally freaked.” “Why didn’t you wait up for me?” I demanded angrily. “I called to you. You just disappeared.” “We didn’t hear you,” she replied, shaking her head. I was really glad to see her. But I hated the way she was looking at me, like I was some kind of hopeless idiot. “I guess we got involved in our argument. We thought you were right behind us. Then when we turned around, you were gone.” She sighed and shook her head. “What a day!” “What a day?” I cried shrilly. “What a day?”

“Gabe, why did you do that?” she demanded. “You know we were supposed to stay close together.” “Hey—it wasn’t my fault,” I insisted angrily.

“Daddy is so mad,” Sari said, shining her light in my face.

I raised my arm to shield my eyes. “Cut it out,” I snapped. “He won’t be mad when he sees what I’ve discovered. Look.” I shined my light onto a mummy crouching near the tar pit, then moved it to another mummy, this one lying down, then to the row of mummy cases against the wall.

“Wow.” Sari mouthed the word silently. Her eyes grew wide with surprise.

“Yeah. Wow,” I said, starting to feel a little more like normal. “The chamber is filled with mummies. And there are all kinds of tools and cloth and everything you need to make a mummy. It’s all in perfect shape, like it hasn’t been touched in thousands of years.” I couldn’t hide my excitement. “And I discovered it all,” I added.

“This must be where they prepared the mummies for burial,” Sari said, her eyes darting from mummy to mummy. “But why are some of them standing up like that?” I shrugged. “Beats me.”

She walked over to admire the stacks of neatly folded linen. “Wow. This is amazing, Gabe.” “Outstanding!” I agreed. “And if I hadn’t stopped to tie my sneaker, I never would have discovered it.” “You’re going to be famous,” Sari said, a smile spreading across her face. “Thanks to me saving your life.” “Sari—” I started.

But she had moved across the room and was admiring one of the upright mummies close up. “Wait till Daddy sees all this,” she said, suddenly sounding as excited as me.

“We have to call him,” I said eagerly. I glanced back at the scorpion nest and felt a chill of fear tighten the back of my neck.

“People were so tiny back then,” she said, holding her flashlight up close to the mummy’s covered face. “Look—I’m taller than this one.” “Sari, use your beeper,” I said impatiently, walking over to her.

“Yuck. There are bugs crawling in this one’s face,” she said, stepping back and lowering the light. She made a disgusted face. “Gross.” “Come on. Use your beeper. Call Uncle Ben,” I said. I reached for the beeper at her waist, but she pulled away.

“Okay, okay. Why didn’t you use yours?” She eyed me suspiciously. “You forgot about it, didn’t you, Gabe?” she accused.

“No way,” I replied sharply. “Mine broke when I fell into this place.”

She made a face and pulled the beeper off her belt loop. I shined my light on it as she pushed the button. She pressed it twice, just to make sure, then clipped it back onto her jeans.

We stood with our arms crossed, waiting for Uncle Ben to follow the radio signals and find us.

“It shouldn’t take him long,” Sari said, her eyes on the tunnel in the corner. “He wasn’t far behind me.” Sure enough, a few seconds later, we heard the sounds of someone approaching in the tunnel.

“Uncle Ben!” I called excitedly. “Look what I’ve found!”

Sari and I both started to run to the tunnel, our lights zigzagging over the low entrance.

“Daddy, you won’t believe—” Sari started.

She stopped when the stooped figure leaned out of the darkness and straightened up.

We both gaped in horror, our flashlights making his mustached face glow eerily.

“It’s Ahmed!” Sari cried, grabbing my arm.