The New Bride of the Mummy

This story is a sequel to Brides of the Mummy

It was extremely dark inside the corridors of the pyramid. Alexis poked her flashlight through the doorway, trying to see down the long hallway that stretched before her.  “Alexis, come in. Status report.” 

The sudden plea squawking from the radio made her jump. She picked up the radio and pressed the reply button.

“Nothing yet. I’m descending into the lower passageways.” 

“All right, but be careful," the garbled voice at the other end said. “Nobody has been down there in thousands of years. There could be traps.” 

Alexis shook her head.  “You really think I’d fall for a trap? I’m not that blind.” 

“I worry sometimes. Report back in five.” The radio went silent.

Clipping the radio back to her belt, Alexis held her flashlight up and continued her downward trek deep into the pyramid. She had been going downwards for five minutes before the floor leveled out. Eager to report, Alexis pulled out her radio again. “HQ, Alexis here. The path has leveled out.” 

 “Roger, report back when you find anything.”

 Excited, Alexis quickly moved onward. The flashlight highlighted a few torch slots within the stone walls of the corridor. Pulling out her lucky lighter, Alexis was delighted to find that a few torches were still set within the wall.  Putting the lighter to good use, she managed to light three of them, illuminating the long corridor. Continuing onwards, Alexis inspected the walls methodically, like any good archeologist would.  They were covered in hieroglyphs describing the life of a very important pharaoh that was buried somewhere within the pyramid.  For years people had searched for his body, but Alexis felt that she was going to be the first one to locate it. The corridor in front of her came to a stop. Squinting in the dim light, Alexis made out a wall of solid rock that seemed ended her progress. But this couldn’t be a dead end. There was no logical reason to have this hidden corridor come down underneath the pyramid only to end at a dead end. 

 “HQ, I’ve come to a dead end. Doesn’t look like there’s any door nearby.” 

“Acknowledged.  We’re sending a team down to assist you. ETA, fifteen minutes.” 

Alexis fumed silently. She’d come all the way down here, and now she was going to have to rely on a team to help her out. It was cramping her style. And that style was to go it alone, with nobody else. She’d have to think hard. There must be a door here. She could sense that something big was somewhere nearby, and she wanted to be the one who would find it. Images of commissions danced in her head.

As luck would have it, something caught her attention. There were two small alcoves set into the wall on both sides near the giant stone wall. One was empty. The other had a small vase set within it. With museum-like caution, she lifted the vase out of the alcove and flashed her light into the niche.  There was a small keyhole of some kind set inside. This was how the door opened, she smiled. But where was the key? Thinking for a few moments, Alexis suddenly got an idea. She reached inside the vase, and to her surprise, there was a key in the bottom. She smiled again. How lucky could one girl get?

The key fit perfectly into the hole. Tingling with excitement, Alexis twisted it. There was a loud rumbling noise. Heavy things shifted and moved. Ancient gears long unused clinked again. Finally, the dead end at the end of the hall began to move. Alexis watched in amazement as a stone slab shifted aside, revealing darkness behind it. Too mesmerized to radio her find, Alexis took one of the torches and walked into the chamber. The darkness there was even more absolute than in the corridor behind her. The torch cast but a dim flicker. Whatever room she was in, it was obviously very large, possibly the biggest in the entire pyramid. Its walls stretched far into the distance. The ceiling was at least twenty feet high, and the walls spread a great distance from each other. 

In front of each wall were sarcophagi. Curious, Alexis walked up to one and began to inspect it. The sarcophagus was made of dark stone. She tried moving the lid. It didn’t budge. Whatever was within this coffin was definitely sealed in tight. Moving on, Alexis watched in amazement as sarcophagus after sarcophagus appeared in the torchlight. Within three minutes she had counted thirty. In ten minutes, more than eighty. Once she reached the end of the chamber, she counted a hundred.

One hundred. That was a large number of bodies to be buried on one place -- even in a pharaoh’s tomb.  Alexis knew that no more then ten mummies had ever been discovered in a single tomb. This was going to make her famous, she realized. Alexis then realized that there was something behind her. She wheeled and saw a large sarcophagus, one that towered above the others. It was at least eight feet by six feet in size. 

 “This must be the ruler's,” Alexis whispered to herself. 

Setting her torch in a small holder, she tried to remove the cover of sarcophagus. It wouldn’t budge. Then she noticed a small lever hidden behind the great stone coffin. She pulled it. Instantly the lid began to move. She watched, fascinated, as it slowly slid off, then peered inside. There was a giant coffin inside, constructed out of black wood. A great ruler’s head dress was carved into the head of the coffin. This was obviously an important person. What intrigued her though, were two knobs set into the coffin.  Curious, she reached down and twisted them. There was a loud click. Then a bang. Whirling about, Alexis saw that the door to the entrance of the chamber was closing. Grabbing her torch, she ran towards it, but it had already sealed tightly against the wall by the time she reached it. 

Alexis frantically searched the door and the nearby walls for any switch to reopen the door. She found nothing. With a chill, she realized that the door was not meant to be opened from this side. She was sealed in. Blind panic began to set into her brain as she fought to maintain her composure. There must be a way out, there had to be. Then she heard a sound at the end of the chamber. A moan. A very human moan. Alexis turned very slowly. The sound was coming from the giant sarcophagus that she had opened. Could it be? No, it couldn’t. Mummies couldn't be raised from the dead. 
 But, then what was causing that noise?

“Who’s there?" Alexis shouted. “Who is it?” 

There was no reply. 

“Who’s there?” she shouted, louder this time. “I demand that you show yourself.” 

The owner of the footsteps obliged. Alexis watched as the form of a man began to appear before her.  When it walked directly into the torchlight, Alexis gasped in terror. It was a mummy. A walking mummy. Just like in the old horror movies, it was a man wrapped entirely in ancient, yellowed bandages. It said nothing as it walked very slowly towards her. 

“Stop!” Alexis commanded, stumbling backwards. “Stop right there!” 

This couldn’t be happening, she tried to tell herself. It just couldn’t. Mummies don’t come back from the dead. The mummy continued to Alexis, coming within a few feet of her. She brandished her torch as a weapon, and the bandaged figure stopped. Alexis was too terrified to think. Fight or flight? She couldn’t decide. All she could focus on was this impossible sight before her. The mummy raised its hand, revealing a small amulet around its wrist. It pointed the thing at Alexis and began to speak in ancient Egyptian. Alexis groaned in disgust as she heard the mummy speak. Its voice was the dry croak of a person who had not spoken in thousands of years. Its utterance was muffled by the layers of bandages wrapping its face.

As she strained to make sense of its words, Alexis noticed that a faint green mist was swirling out of the amulet and coming right for her. The mist reached her quickly, encircling her face. It was cold, and she felt like it was penetrating her very brain. When the mist vanished, the mummy spoke again. To Alexis’s complete surprise, she could understand him.

“I thank you stranger, for awakening me," the mummy said in perfect English. Its voice -- no longer a dry, muffled hiss -- sounded regal and well articulated. Somehow, Alexis thought, it seemed to be resonating insider her brain, not in her ears.

“Wh…who…who are you?” she stammered. 

“I am a Pharaoh of Egypt," the mummy replied. “I have lain here for thousands of years in the slow sleep of death embalmed. You brought me back when you twisted the knobs on my coffin. The magic within the knobs has returned me. And now I require your assistance.”

Alexis didn't respond. Her ability to comprehend what was happening had melted down. She was talking to a mummy that had lain here for thousands of years. Whether he had been dead or asleep, she couldn’t tell. But now he wanted her help? 

“What is it you want of me?” she finally asked.

“I ask of you to speak,” the Pharaoh said. “Speak and tell me all that has happened since my time. What year is it?” 

“It’s the year 2035,” Alexis said. 

“I have slept long, but I didn't think it would be this long," the voice replied. "Please, tell me all that has happened since my time.” 

Trying to remember everything she could from her history classes, Alexis told the mummy of the rise of civilizations such as the Romans and the Greeks. She told him of Napoleon, the American Revolution, the following world and cold wars, and the events of the 21st Century.

“You speak of much," the Pharaoh said. “The world has changed considerably since my time. I wish I could see it all.” 

“Well, why not?" Alexis asked, hoping the mummy knew how to get her out of the tomb. "Go out there and see the world.”

“Alas, I cannot," the mummy said. “I am bound to my tomb for all time. I must remain here. My advisor assassinated me long ago, and he placed a curse on me. Should ever awaken, it is said, I would be bound to my tomb and would never be able to leave.” 

The mummy hung its bandaged head slightly.

“I wish I could see it all," its voice continued. "But I cannot. And I am afraid you cannot either.” 

“What?” Alexis said, alarmed at his last statement. “What do you mean?” 

“I am afraid I cannot allow you to leave," the Pharaoh said. “You have learned too much, and if you left, you would only tell the world of me and my existence. For thousands of years I have rested peacefully here, but now that is in jeopardy because of you. I am afraid you must join me in this sleep of ages.”

Alexis backed away. 

“Look buddy, but I have a life out there," she said, raising her torch again. "I'm not going to stay here because you tell me to.” 

The Pharaoh shook his head. 

“I am afraid you have no choice. You can join me willingly, or I shall force you to join me.”

“What are you going to do?” Alexis taunted, backing toward the blocked entrance, her torch still held high. “Wave your arms and cast some magic spell? You get near me, and you burn.”

The pharaoh raised his right hand and called out in a loud voice. Alexis shrunk back, half expecting a lighting bolt or fire ball to shoot her way.  Instead, Alexis looked behind the pharaoh and saw the lids on the black sarcophagi falling to the floor. 

“You will now join me, even if it is against your will," the mummy said, still holding his right hand in the air.

There was movement from within the one hundred black sarcophagi. Alexis saw an arm emerge from the one closest to her. It was wrapped completely up in yellowed bandages. Then the arm's owner appeared. A female form wrapped head to toe in bandages slowly climbed out of its resting place. Although its face was hidden behind bandages, Alexis could see a pair of living eyes peering from behind a narrow slit -- the only part of its body not swathed in the moldering cloth. The female mummy stiffly raised its arms and began to walk towards her. As it did, another female mummy emerged from a nearby sarcophagus. Then another, and another, and another, until one hundred female mummies were walking slowly toward Alexis. They were closing in, and Alexis realized that even if she managed to fend off a few with her torch, there was no way she could battle this bandaged army. There was no escape.

The first mummy acted with surprising dexterity, quickly reaching for Alexis. Alexis shrieked and swung her torch like a club, narrowly missing the mummy. Several hands grabbed her arm, then twisted it, forced her to drop the torch. The rest of the bandaged women descended upon her, grabbing and holding her until she was completely helpless. Alexis shrieked in terror and struggled to fight her way out. It was hopeless. There were simply too many mummies holding her immobile. Then he heard the Pharaoh’s voice. 

“You will now join me as my newest bride, and you shall sleep with me and my one hundred wives forever."

The mummies began to silently move towards the pharaoh’s sarcophagus at the end of the room, dragging Alexis along with them. She shouted, kicked and spat all the way. When the reached the end of the room, the Pharaoh’s mummy walked into her field of vision. He raised his hand and spoke a command. A large stone panel on the floor swiveled to reveal a dark hole. Then a table slowly rose from the hole. It continued rising until it was level with the pharaoh’s waist. There were cuffs at the four corners of the table, clearly meant to hold someone in a spread-eagle position. Alexis intensified her struggling as she saw the cuffs on the table. There was no way she could allow herself to be locked down for whatever the Pharaoh had in mind. 

“Now, you shall be mummified," the Pharaoh said, looking directly at her. “And then you shall be buried with us, joining us here forever.”

Alexis let out a scream of despair as the Pharaoh’s brides lifted her onto the table and forced her limbs into the cuffs. The restraints instantly snapped shut, locking in place. Alexis shouted and yanked at her restraints, but they held fast and kept her wrists and ankles locked into a spread-eagle position. She was totally helpless and at the mercy of an undead Egyptian king who wanted her to be mummified and buried alive. Two of the brides came forward, carrying several rolls of thick and tightly woven bandages. Alexis stared at them as they approached the mummification table, only their eyes peering impassively from behind their bandages hinted that living beings resided inside the wrappings. Several of the other mummies tore off Alexis’s clothes, leaving her naked on the table. She shivered in the cool air of the tomb. 

“Now mummify her," the Pharaoh commanded his brides. 

The mummies closest to Alexis grabbed the bandages at their disposal and began to wrap her. Alexis could not resist as multiple sets of hands toiled to wrap bandages around her body. There was no way for her to resist her encasement. She kept struggling, hoping beyond hope that she could somehow escape. But as her legs and arms were wrapped up, she realized with that there was no escape from her fate. The brides moved surprisingly fast as they continued to enshroud her in clean white strips of linen. Within two minutes, Alexis’s arms and legs had been enveloped in thousands of yards bandages, and the brides moved to wrapping her breasts, stomach and groin.

“Stop,” Alexis pleaded as her breasts disappeared under the bandages. "Please don't do this."

Alexis was proud of her breasts, which had been the envy of the other female members of the archeology team.  Tears welled in her eyes as she realized she could do nothing but watch as her body slowly vanished beneath a tight, compressing cocoon of bandages. With her breasts encased, the mummy brides moved on to Alexis’s bare tummy. As they pulled the bandages tighter and tighter, Alexis had to breathe harder and faster to compensate for the snug enclosure. The bandaging continued for another two minutes before Alexis’s body was encased in a full body sheath of bandages.  She kept tugging at her restraints, which easily held her in check. 

“Please,” Alexis tearfully shouted again to the Pharaoh, who watched silently. “Please don’t do this. I promise I won’t tell anybody about you or this place. I’m begging you, please stop.” 

The pharaoh shook his head. 

“You cannot leave. You are almost complete. We must finish what we have started." He looked at his brides, who were now standing still, awaiting their master’s command. “Bandage her arms and legs together, and finish her.” 

Upon hearing the command, the brides continued their work. They descended upon the ankle cuffs and released them. Alexis instinctively kicked out, but her legs were caught by twenty hands and forced together. She thrashed and cursed at her captors as they took more bandages and wound them around both of her legs, sealing them together. Alexis' kicks became smaller and smaller as bandages enveloped her wrapped legs and sealed them together.  Soon, she couldn't move her legs at all. They were fused into a single unit under countless layers of cloth. With Alexis' legs sealed together, the brides released her handcuffs. 

Knowing that this was her last chance at escape, Alexis punched and grabbed at anything near her. But there were simply too many captors to resist. Multiple sets of hands grabbed her arms and forced them into an X pattern across her chest. Alexis screamed and cursed, blinded by her tears, as her arms were held to her breast and bandages used to bind them in place. She thrashed and pushed with all her might. But it was too little, too late. The bandages now held her arms securely in position, and no amount of struggling could grant her any leverage. She could see that thick layers of bandages had turned her form into a motionless cocoon. The mummies then moved to her head. A pair of hands held it still while two mummies took rolls and began to quickly wrap them around her neck and face.

“Please," Alexis sobbed. “Please don’t.” 

The mummies ignored her pleas, bandaging her head until her soft skin vanished forever underneath the wrappings.  Her hearing began to fade as layers of bandages squashed her ears flat. There was one thing they had to do before they completely bandaged her face, however. One mummy took a long roll of bandage and compressed it into a tight ball. Alexis shook her head in fear and terror as she realized what was going to happen. The mummy brought the squashed roll of bandage towards her mouth. Alexis shut her mouth as tight as possible, refusing to open. Withought pausing, the mummy pinched her nose shut. Unable to breathe, Alexis panicked as the horrible burning pressure began to build inside her. Slowly but surely, the pressure built until her entire body was on fire. It was agonizing. Unable to resist any longer, Alexis instinctively opened her mouth to take a deep gasp. That is when the mummy thrust the wad of cloth into her mouth. She tried to scream, but failed. The bandages muffled the cry inside her throat.  Panicking, she tried to move her tongue around the wad, but it was pressed down tightly, and she could no longer move it.

The mummies then took more rolls of bandages and tightly wound them around Alexis’s head and jaw, sealing her mouth completely shut. As Alexis sobbed into her gag of wadded linen, the brides continued to apply rolls of bandages around her mouth, ensuring that it would stay closed forever. She looked up through her tears and saw the eyes of her bandaged captors. They still showed no emotion. With Alexis' mouth sealed, there was but one thing left to do -- wrap the remainder of her face. The mummies wove the bandages around her face, progressing higher and higher with each wrap.

Alexis completely lost it -- the horrible reality of her situation had hit her in full. She was going to remain here forever. She would remain as a living mummy, never to escape. This was her fate. Tears of frustration and helplessness flowed soundlessly down her cheeks, quickly absorbed by the bandages that were now mere centimeters from her eyes. One mummy took two small rolls of bandages and wadded them up.  The wads were quickly moved towards Alexis’s eyes. Withought thinking, she instinctively closed them. The last thing she would ever see was the sight of the mummies around her, and the ceiling high above her. 
The wads were placed onto Alexis’s eyelids and pressed down, forcing her to keep her eyes shut. They were held in place as the bandages the brides wrapped bandages around the eyes.  A few more wraps of the bandages, and Alexis' face was now sealed away behind many layers of white bandages.

With the second layer completed, the mummies quickly began the final layer. They brought forward a large shroud, and wrapped securely around the body of the newest bride. The girl inside was unable to resist as the shroud was tucked around her body. With the large sheet secured in place, the mummies began wrapping the bandages in an intricate interlacing pattern around the entire body. When the final decorative layer was complete, the new mummy looking something like a long cigar-shape, woven of white cloth.

Alexis was now encased within several inches bandages from which she would never be released. The wrapping was so thick it was impossible to tell whether her form was male or female. A new black sarcophagus rose from the floor of the chamber. Within it lay a coffin. The brides of the mummy brought forward an intricately carved wooden death mask, which they placed onto the newest bride. The mask completely encased and contained Alexis' head and upper shoulders. They then picked up her bandaged form, raised it to their shoulders and carried her to the new sarcophagus. They then opened the lid of the coffin inside and lowered the new bride inside. Her bandages were so thick that it was a snug fit. 

The Pharaoh then came forward with his amulet. He gently spun it and began to chant. A green mist drifted from the artifact and down onto the newly wrapped mummy, where it penetrated the bandages. A mist of sleep quickly took effect, and Alexis fell into a deep, deep sleep from which she would not awaken. The mummies then placed the coffin lid in place, and slid sarcophagus cover in place, sealing the sleeping mummy within its protective encasement. With the task completed, the pharaoh and his brides returned to their private coffins to resume the long slow sleep that they had enjoyed for centuries. The mummies climbed into the coffins and closed them from the inside. The lids of the sarcophagi slid back into place by themselves. Within five minutes, all was silent again. 

The rest of the pharaoh and his brides had resumed. The mummy that had once been Alexis had now joined them in this sleep of ages. They would all sleep together, forever. 

A few minutes later, Alexis’s abandoned torch sputtered out.

All was dark.

“Where is she?” Ellen asked. 

“Her last radio transmission came from here," another member of the support team said. 

The pair were among five explorers that had been sent into the pyramid to assist Alexis, but they could find no sign of her. Fifteen minutes passed before they discovered the secret key and lock that opened the tomb of the Pharaoh. Another ten minutes passed before they discovered his coffin. Then, in two hours, five more brides joined the pharaoh. Within a few days, the entire archaeology team exploring the pyramid vanished withought a trace, lost forever among the swirling sands of the desert. 
 
 

Any comments/criticism are appreciated.  They help me refine and improve my writing.
 
 
 
 

13.05.05