Egypt by Patti Wheeler Read Free Book Online Page A

inside?”
    Gannon thought for a moment.
    “Fine,” he said. “After you?”
    “No, I insist,” James replied. “You first.”
    “Suck it up,” I said to Gannon.
    “Yeah, mate,” James added. “Dr. Aziz is waiting for us. Get in there.”
    Gannon shot us both an angry look, dropped to the ground and crawled into the opening. I know he wasn’t happy, but there was no way I was going to let him turn back.
    I followed close behind.
    Through the collapsed doorway, the chamber opened up into a square room, probably fifteen feet at each side, with a ceiling just high enough for us to stand upright. I shined my flashlight along the ground in front of me, checking each step before I took it. Dr. Aziz was somewhere in the darkness. Then, suddenly, there was a click and a bright beam of light shot across the tomb.
    “Behold!” he thundered. “Mummies!”
    “Ooof!” James belted, and fell back into the wall as if he’d just been punched in the gut.
    I was pretty startled myself. It’s just not something you see every day.
    “Amazing,” Serene said.
    “Judging by the tomb and the type of burial, this is probably a nobleman and his family,” Dr. Aziz explained. “A mother, father, and the three mummies on the right are most likely their children. This is a brand new discovery and you are part of it!”
    These mummies were wrapped in linen from head to toe, just like mummies I grew up seeing in cartoons. Because of these childhood memories, it wasn’t hard for me to imagine them suddenly coming to life and attacking us.
    What happened next was almost worse.
    There was a low rumble and it seemed like the ground was giving way. The next thing I knew Gannon was falling, rock and dirt consuming him on all sides. When he came to a stop he was pinned, stuck in a narrow crack in the earth. One arm was wedged along his side. The other was raised over his head. He had fallen into a booby trap and couldn’t move.
    He fought, wiggled, thrashed, and screamed until his energy was all but drained. Dr. Aziz was yelling at him from above, but Gannon couldn’t calm himself enough to hear what he was saying.
    Finally, the words of Dr. Aziz registered.
    “Stop moving or you’ll be buried alive!” he screamed.
    Gannon stopped.
    Enough dirt had fallen into the shaft to bury him up to his chin. A small plume continued to slide into the shaft, slowly filling the hole. Gannon raised his chin, which gave him another inch between his mouth and the dirt. He whispered that his chest felt like it was being crushed and he was having trouble breathing.
    Immediately, a rescue was underway. We only had minutes to save him. Dr. Aziz summoned the crew, who came running into the tomb with a cord of rope. The idea was to tie the rope under his arms and pull him from the hole. The problem was that his left arm was buried and there was no way to secure the rope around him. Instead the men used a small shovel and began carefully removing dirt from the hole.
    “Gannon,” I said calmly, “just try to relax.”
    “That’s easy for you to say,” he grunted. “You’re not the one stuck in a booby trap.”
    The men were cautious in their movements, very aware that triggering a slide would bury Gannon completely. Little by little they cleared away enough dirt and debris to get the rope underneath his left arm. They then ran it around his back and under his right arm. The rope was secured with a double knot so that there was no chance of it coming undone once they started to pull him out.
    The largest man in the crew took the rope in his hands and began to pull with everything he had, but Gannon didn’t budge an inch. A second man helped. Still, he didn’t move. So James, Serene, and I took the rope behind the men, as did Dr. Aziz. It felt like we were trying to pull Gannon from a pool of wet cement that had almost dried. He groaned in pain each time we pulled.
    “Hang in there, Gannon,” I said.
    “I feel like I’m about to be torn in half,”