City of the Dead

Chapter 17

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.