Chapter 12-


Rafe Steinburger tried to ignore the pounding in his skull as he and Max Schneider crept through the dark and musty corridors, guided only by a single torch. They stepped over skeletal remains (some were recent corpses) and the held very dignified handkerchiefs over their noses to try to block out the awful stench of the decay. He was mad as hell. When he stepped out of the tombs earlier on, saw the bodies of his soldiers and workers with the horses and provisions gone, and with no way to get out of there, that shocked him. They were one of the most advanced armies in the world, and a bunch of desert people overtook them. It was unfair, a disgrace to Germany. Not to mention that the woman was gone too. Rafe snarled when he thought of Miss. Desmias, that shameful witch. He would make her pay for the humiliation she had caused him. Unfortunately, because there was no way whatsoever in getting back to Cairo, Rafe couldn’t get word to the Nazis that were holding the woman’s daughter to kill the child. He hoped they would notice he was gone and send a rescue party for him.

When Rafe stepped back into the tombs since the discovery, he set out for one purpose only. Imhotep. This creature was the one thing the Medjai feared, and he was going to make them suffer. Along with Ravena of course. He did his best to try not too lose his way as he searched desperately through the mazes of corridors in search of some sort of black pool. His podgy second-in-command struggled to keep up with him.

“Hurry up you fat piece of lard,” Rafe growled under his breath in German.

Max picked up his pace, panting.

“Mr. Steinburger, don’t you think we could rest for one moment, I mean, we DO have all day, and I’m hungry.”

Rafe turned around sharply and pinned him to the wall. His eyes glared so ferociously that Max immediately regretted his words.

“We will do whatever I say, whenever I say, do you understand?!”

Max nodded numbly, and breathed in relief when Rafe slowly let go of him and started with his search once more. He cleared his throat quietly, and resumed with scurrying behind his leader. Suddenly, Rafe stopped abruptly which resulted in Max crashing into him. He didn’t notice. He had found the Black Pool. In the room, it looked as if a bomb was set up in there, with a lopsided alter in the middle and slabs of rock all over the place. Rafe walked slowly towards the black substance, and gazed into the endless epitome of darkness. Without raising his head, he slowly lifted one finger, beckoning Max to come over to where he stood. Max stumbled over and looked down as well, wondering how the hell this stuff could be so important. He didn’t see Rafe pull out a small dagger from his pocket and slowly walked behind him. He grabbed him by the neck and placed the knife to his neck.

“Remember what the tombstone said, Max? >He who is sacrificed in the black pool of death, will have aroused the dark creature of immortality, a dark force of pain and cruelty.> Sorry my chubby little man.”

With that Rafe slit open an artery in Max’s neck, which immediately gushed out dark blood. It bubbled and hissed in the dying man’s mouth. He pushed his victim into the black pool and watched as distant screams of darkness enveloped Max. Suddenly the ground started to shake. Rafe cautiously stepped back, avoiding the flying debris that came from the wrecked walls. All of a sudden, the black pool spread apart, much like when Moses spread apart the Red Sea. Chaos and screams were vibrating through invisible shields. Rafe tried to protect himself from it by covering his ears and closing his eyes. He crouched down on the floor and tried to ignore the freezing, unknown thrusts of air that hit him like a ravenous waterfall. He stayed like that for a moment before gaining the courage to open one eye. He slowly pulled away his hands from his ears. Silence. It seemed like nothing had changed. The blackness was set normally back in the pool and it looked as if nothing had been moved. Rafe stood up, hesitantly. He suddenly heard a groan. He whipped his head around, and what he saw made his eyes widen and he cried out. There, at the altar, was a walking corpse. It was worse then any decay he had ever seen. Beneath him lay the body of Max Schneider, and Rafe couldn’t help but feel pity for the man. With him staring in horror, he saw the walking carcass smile satanically. With one huge movement of his jaw, Rafe watched aghast as the corpse slowly, yet quickly sucked up the skin from Max’s body. Pretty soon, all that was left of Max were bones and behind him was a handsome man, fully naked. Imhotep, fully regenerated. He saw Rafe and gave a vicious smile. With one motion of his hand, he sent Rafe flying through the air, resulting in him crashing his head into the wall and slumping down unconscious. Imhotep, unaware that the man was still breathing, walked over to where he lay and stole his clothes, remembering 7 yrs. before how the foreigners used to wear clothes similar to these. After a moment of struggle in putting them on, he walked out, leaving an echo of cruel laughter behind him.