“A prison,” Rabia finished, coming to the same conclusion. “Anubis imprisoned people here. Then, he conducted his awful experiments on them.”
“And the rooms upstairs?” Ali asked.
Zahra shrugged. “I don’t know, his guards — the Scales of Anubis?” All three of them stared down Zahra. She felt uneasy. “It’s just a theory…”
“You see that?” Baahir asked.
“See what?” Zahra asked, resting her palm on her holstered pistol. They had reached the extreme edge of the city after having descended the stairs. She was exhausted, but knew their journey wasn’t over yet.
“Over there,” he said, pointing down the road. “I think I saw something move.”
“Khaliq?”
Baahir squinted, but didn’t say anything.
“I think you are tired, my friend,” Ali said. “We are all seeing things.”
Even Rabia’s eyes looked heavy.
Zahra was scared, too, unsure of what might happen next. She was leading this expedition into hell.
And if any of her present company died, their blood would be on her hands.
The shadows did seem to dance in the wavering light produced by the river of fire. The radiating heat was intense, but it was a comforting blanket to Zahra. She felt exposed without her jacket, and the warmth reminded her of home. Of anything besides this place.
“There’s a bridge up ahead,” Rabia announced.
She had moved further up the road, leaving the rest of the group behind. If it was anyone else, Zahra would have suggested they stay with the pack, but the sniper knew what she was doing.
Ali must have been thinking the same thing. “Rabia, you—”
She turned and held up a hand, silencing him quickly. Then, she pointed at her right ear. It was the universal sign for “listen, numbnuts!” Zahra didn’t hear anything, but she trusted Rabia’s instincts. But after twenty seconds of inaction, much of which Zahra had spent holding her breath, Rabia signaled for them to keep moving. The sniper threw her rifle around her back, tightening the sling as she did. She opted for her sidearm instead, drawing it and keeping it at the low ready.
Zahra drew her pistol free too.
Next, Rabia silently moved off to the nearest building, and ducked her head inside. A light bloomed to life and swept back and forth. No shots were fired, and Rabia exited and headed for the next structure. Something had spooked the woman, and she now found it necessary to clear the buildings of a dead city.
She decided to help and crossed the road. The closest structure was a low-roofed, brick-shaped building. The door was nothing more than a rectangular opening, barely wide enough for a human to slip through. Zahra clicked on her Glock’s rail-mounted light and leaned inside, keeping her lower body outside. Panning from left to right, the first pass revealed a single room, and very little else. She gave the room another look, this time, slower…and lower.
The floor was sprinkled with them.
The sight gave her the chills. Seeing enough, she leaned back out into the city and was, once more, hit with the sulfurous stench. Rabia was two houses ahead of Zahra and still on the opposite side of the road.
Zahra was about to continue her own search. Curiosity drove her now. If there had been people living here in the past, then there would be evidence of their living habits. Artifacts.
And there were other dangerous things lurking about — in the form of Khaliq Ayad, and maybe even Ajmal — but this was still a
A crossroads was up ahead. Zahra watched Rabia turn right and disappear behind the last structure. Zahra, Baahir, and Ali picked up their pace and swiftly caught up with the sniper.
They took the right turn, as well, around the house, nearly banging into the back of Rabia. Zahra saw what had caused her to stop — there was no way to miss it.
They stood in awe of the ancient stone bridge… and the infernal glow emanating from beneath it. Without the cover of the buildings, the heat was much more intense here.
“We’re supposed to cross
Rabia nodded. “Yes.”
She didn’t remember spotting another way across, and it could take the rest of the day to search for an alternate route. As amazing as this place was from a historical standpoint, they still had a job to do.
They needed to find Khaliq.
They needed to stop him.
Zahra looked at the others. “We, uh, need to get moving.”
No one moved. Not even Rabia. So, Zahra led the way. She took the centermost path up to the foot of the bridge, going as far as ducking her head down. This was the moment that she missed her jacket the most. It would have made an incredible heat shield. Luckily, the bridge was wide enough to block some of the heat. She took the incline in stride, never once stopping.
If she had, she might not have been able to start again.
