City of the Dead

Part 2: The Desert; Chapter 3

I stare out to the clear blue sky, trying to block the suns rays with my hand. The suffocating air and unbearable heat settles in, ensuring me that we arrived in Cairo, Egypt. Before unloading the supplies and luggage from our small cramped cargo plane, I had planned to inspect that all of my luggage made it in one piece. Luckily for me, most of my belongings consisted of just medical supplies, such as bandages, sutures, and of course medications as a precautionary. As the boys were finishing up, I went to unravel my scarf that I had tied around my wrist and my long brown hair into a ponytail.

Until I heard a voice from behind me, "I remember when you actually hated having long hair," Isaac said tauntingly. "You used to always try to cut your hair so short that some of the parents in our neighborhood thought you were one of the boys," he laughs as he nudges me for a reaction. "Well that's because someone I know went and stuck gum in my hair, not once, but twice when we were kids," I say in an irritating manner, while looking straight into his light blue eyes. Isaac raised his hands up in the air with a smirk on his face showing he didn't regret saying it. "Better get used to this heat, Anna, 'cuz from here on out, it's nothing but sand and camels out here" Isaac said as he threw in his mouth a piece of chewing tobacco.

I give an unenthusiastic laugh as I go to place the last of my bags in the trunk of our rental car. In the distance, I noticed David talking to an older gentleman with a monocle and a red fez hat on. The old man carried himself with his head held high. Like if he was trying to hide his slender figure. Behind the older gentleman there was a servant with an umbrella following close behind. "That must be our boss," I muttered under my breath.

I walked over to Bernard, who seems to be setting up a folding camera of some sort, when I asked, "Hey Bernard, who's that man talking to David?" He takes a moment to clean his glasses before answering. Once he finally puts his glasses back on, he squints in the direction of where David and the slender old man are standing. "Oh, that's Dr. Allen Chamberlain, he's the one leading this excavation to Hamunaptra." I looked over to see that David and Dr. Chamberlain was staring back, like they heard us from that distance.

"So how does he know about this place?" I questioned.

"He's a treasure hunter like us, but he has his headquarters here in Cairo, he often runs these excavations and brings any treasure they find back to either sell or place into a museum."

Bernard paused before adding. "At least, we think that's what he does."

Bernard goes back to setting up his camera, when Isaac starts walking towards our direction. It was not long after that David and Dr. Chamberlain finished their conversation and made their way towards our group. David then started to introduce everyone to Dr. Chamberlain. Fixing my appearance, I fixed my collar and dusted off any dirt that could be seen from my navy blue skirt. The first thing you want to ensure as a woman is your appearance in society. Otherwise, no man or woman will take you seriously.

"Dr. Chamberlain, this is Isaac Henderson, our weaponologist, Bernard Burns, our archeologist, and Annabelle Cambell, our onsite physician for the expedition." I noticed when David was introducing me to Dr. Chamberlain, the slender old man, gave me a piercing look. Scanning me up and down, as if observing me. I was too familiar with that look, it's the same look that I would often receive throughout my life. After the introductions, I go to shake Dr. Chamberlain's hand, when he interrupts to say "Gentleman! How glad I am to have you here. I take it that the flight wasn't too rough getting to Cairo?" he said sarcastically.

"Well the plane was a bit cramped, but we managed," Isaac commented.

"Well, let's not waste any more time. Come! We'll stop by our hotel and then head on over to my favorite restaurant in the city!" He says gesturing to the group to try and speed things along.