At least that’s what Dallas thought had caused the shaking, but soon they all realized it was something else.
The ground shook and suddenly there was a massive roar as if a train was about to come out of the small space. Something Dallas recognized immediately. An earthquake. The walls of the tomb rocked and buckled and pieces of the ceiling, massive hunks of rock and earth began to fall. One chunk struck Malcolm Land, sending him into a lifeless heap on the ground. Dallas, remembering what she’d been told when she’d been in the Loma Prieta earthquake, stood squarely under the reinforced doorway to the tomb. The quaking and rumbling continued. It had to be the longest earthquake in the history of the planet, Dallas thought. Would it ever end? She searched for Train, but didn’t see his hulking figure anywhere. But she did see David Caldwell. He was kneeling, holding the lantern in front of him.
Later, Dallas would try to switch the events in her memory so it would make sense, but the reality was a massive ball of fire emerged from the shaft engulfing the lantern, swallowing any semblance of David Caldwell and disintegrating everything in its path up to the moment when it reached Dallas. At that point, it became a ferocious blast of air that send Dallas tumbling out of the tomb, through the door to the outer chamber and into the darkness of the tunnel.
Later, Dallas would tell herself that the flame from the lantern had ignited stored gases in the shaft and caused an explosion. But she never could reconcile the image seared into her memory of the flames emerging from the shaft and then swallowing the lantern.
Stunned from the impact, it took Dallas a few seconds to stand up. Remnants of the flame just beyond the tunnel entrance lit the room she was in. Swiveling her head, she tried to get her bearings but then everything in front of her crumpled into dust, blocking the entryway she’d just been thrown through. She stood untouched. She was stunned. And the shaking continued. When the ceiling above her made a cracking sound, she turned and ran. As she did, heart pounding, throat dry, legs and arms aching, she heard a sound behind her. It took her a few seconds to recognize what it was: the sound of rushing water. And it was heading her way.
Terror zipped through her limbs. It was her worst nightmare come true. She would drown and would do so underground. Fear sent adrenaline rushing through her and she picked up her already lung-bursting pace. The taste of dirt filled her mouth and her legs screamed in pain. Soon her entire body was screaming in pain and she didn’t think her lungs or legs could go any further.
The roar of the water was right behind her and then it licked at her ankles and then it struck her with the force of a punch and slapped her down. She went from upright to prone in an instant and barely had time to gasp for air before she was submerged. The water tossed her down onto the tunnel floor only to send her body hurtling into the walls of the tunnel, ricocheting back and forth like a ping pong ball. It seemed to last an eternity, but she was still surviving on that one breath when the motion of the water settled and she felt her body rise. The tunnel had filled with water all except six inches at the top. Lying on her back in the water, kicking her feet to tread water, she pressed her face into this sliver of air gasping for breath.
The water was still coming, but slower now and she quickly realized the space with air was shrinking rapidly. She flailed in panic and began to sink under the water as her arms and legs motioned wildly and futilely.
She was hyperventilating and her heart was racing and she thought she was going to die from a heart attack before she even ran out of air.
Unbidden, her darkest memory floated into her consciousness, overpowering every other thought or emotion.
“Have fun you two,” she’d said to her mother and father before they pulled out of the driveway that night.
She’d never seen her mother happier.
Her parents had always loved each other, but her dad’s free spirit nature had kept him on the road. But now he promised he was home for good. Any trips he took he’d bring her mother.
She stood in the driveway and waved at the car as they headed down the long desert driveway. They were going to eat BBQ and go dancing.
That was the last time she’d seen them alive.
Last year, she’d found a picture of her parents she’d never seen before. It was when her mother was pregnant with her. In the photo, her father looked like he always had, dark wavy hair, thick black moustache, and a tight, close-lipped smile. Her mother, sweetness personified in an auburn-haired debutante, was pregnant.
Thinking of them so young and innocent and happy was like a stab to the heart.
Getting the knock on the door from Deputy Kraig about the car crash had been the worst day of her life.
Now, certain of her own impending death, Dallas took some small comfort in knowing that there was a chance she’d seen her parents again. If there was such a thing as an afterlife. It wasn’t so far-fetched. After all, the Egyptians had been insanely smart and they’d believed in one.
Dallas was thrust back into that dark period of her life,
