I

1443 Words
               It was not the culture of the people that brought him in that God-forsaken place of the planet. But he was not in the position to complain. The offer for the three-day job was good. It was a hefty one thousand bucks a day and surely, he cannot earn that much of money by working as a service crew in a cheap diner in a small town back in the States. Even if all the customers should leave him a good tip every time they’re finished sipping their coffees and eating their scrambled eggs, he knew he could not and would not get those three thousand dollars in just three days. Damn, he thought, even a month would not suffice. Besides, the job was estimated to be done in just three days. So he decided to go along with five other men that he didn’t know and they became part of the excavation team since then.               Then, there. Khartoum, Sudan in Northeast Africa. June of 2014.Where part of the mighty Nile River has been flowing and nourishing the lands since time immemorial. The debated longest river in the world which flows for 6,695 kilometers in total served as a sanctuary for various species of animals and even nurtured several of the ancestral tribes who also stood as guardians of the Great Nile as well. But their team came only to that specific part of the river where the Blue Nile and the White Nile merged to form the massive river. And that was just for one sole reason. To discover and recover something of immeasurable value and significance in the history of mankind’s existence. Something that would surely change the course of life of everyone on Earth. Perhaps, even in the whole universe. But he could not care less. As long as they give him his three thousand dollars and finally go home, the whole universe is theirs to take.               “Come on, boys! We got to keep working! This doesn’t happen twice in our lives! The faster we get what we wanted, the quicker we can all go home. So work those asses of yours and you will get your damn salary!’, the excavation team supervisor shouted.                "Yeah, asshole. Like you’re helping anybody at all”, he whispered And so they worked under the scorching sun and an occasional drizzle. All men, though already dog-tired, kept on digging and scooping out soil and mud. The desire of finishing the job and going home to their families kept them all working. It was as if the resilience of human heart has equaled the strength and power of the heavy machineries’ engines. They started their third and final day of work at roughly six in the morning and continued on for more than eleven tiring hours, only stopping for lunch. After that, they kept on.                  It was almost dark and everybody was already exhausted when the drilling team stopped suddenly. At the depth of precisely six hundred meters, they hit something hard so they decided to get their scanning device. Then, they could not believe what the monitors registered. They hit a solid rock. It had a diameter of six feet and formed an almost-perfect shape of a sphere. But it was not the size or the shape of the stone that baffled the excavation team but the seemingly hollowed space at the center of it.                  “I think this is it, boys! We have found the thing that men have been looking for centuries already. Let’s set the crane and haul that thing up. It’s about time for the world and for mankind to see what the gods have been hiding from us since our forefathers’ time. Let’s move, let’s move!”, the supervisor encouraged.                    When the whole team made sure that all was set and all was fully operational, they lowered the hydraulic clamp of the crane to grab and lift the stone to the surface of the Earth, beside the nearby merging waters of the Blue and White Nile.                    “Slowly! Ever carefully. We don’t want to break anything that’s in there, boys. So proceed carefully.”                    The sound of the clamp locking on the stone made the men held their breath until the crane started pulling it up. It only took ten minutes but it looked as if it was the most-anticipated ten minutes of every man’s life present that day. When the stone finally appeared, it was covered with thick mud so they had to clean it by shooting pressurized water all over it. What they saw kept them standing mesmerized and awed for the dark, shiny stone was covered in ancient hieroglyphs. Then, one man started signaling the crane operator on where to put and sit the stone down. It was then that disaster struck. The stone slipped from the crane’s grasp and fell upon the signal man. It crushed the man’s body and rolled a few meters before stopping, leaving a trail of blood behind. Then, it was followed by a loud cracking sound which echoed throughout the riverbanks. Everyone was in shock except for the team’s supervisor.                       “Every god demands a sacrifice. The Egyptian god Thoth gets his today”, he said without remorse. His men were dumfounded. They could not believe what they heard. He was more concerned on the stone than his very own men. The stone had a c***k running from the top to its center, caused by the impact of falling from the crane.                       “That might make our job a lot easier. We can use that to easily break it and get what’s inside. You want to go home tomorrow? Then we have to break that damn stone!”                       Everyone rushed to their respective assignments after that, suddenly oblivious of their poor colleague’s remains. So they drilled and drilled, covered with the mixture of sweat and dust, trying to split the rock. They battled exhaustion and hunger just to break the stone apart until finally, the existing c***k continued to the bottom and sent the halves falling with a thunderous sound and a huge explosion of dust. After a minute or two, the cloud of dust settled down and what they saw left their jaws hanging. Right in the middle of the stone was a small chest made of pure gold and was covered with intricate carvings. There were also Egyptian hieroglyphs but none of them could read it. The chest measured six inches by six inches, forming a perfect square and was kept by a tiny lock made of solid gold also.                      “What the-“, Billy muttered. That surely is worth more than three thousand dollars, he thought to himself.                       “It is true, then. They all thought it was just a f*****g legend! But I knew it! The Egyptian god of knowledge and learning did hide his gift to mankind somewhere near the great river Nile. But I found it. Yes!”. The supervisor’s cry of joy did not surprise them at all. What surprised them was when he fell down face first into the ground after that. Then the next gunshots followed. The supervisor’s cry only muffled the first gunshot .They only realized that when they saw his wounded back and the pool of blood starting to spread around his body. And then there were men in camouflaged shirts, black pants and heavy leather boots appearing from behind the trees and bushes. They also wore black masks over their faces. Billy was struck with fear. He tried to run swiftly and seek cover behind one of the halved stones when he was pushed forward by an invisible force, making him eat a mouthful of dirt upon landing on his face. Then, he felt something warm running down the right side of his stomach. He was shot.                       “Oh shi-“,he cursed. Blood started coming out of his mouth and choked him. He felt helpless. He knew he’s going to die by that time so what he did was turn around and look at the golden chest as the leader of the armed men was taking it. Then, the man walked towards him and pointed the rifle between his eyes. The man looked at his eyes and cold-bloodedly pulled the trigger. Before oblivion took him, he asked himself one question:                       What was inside that damn chest?
Free reading for new users
Scan code to download app
Facebookexpand_more
  • author-avatar
    Writer
  • chap_listContents
  • likeADD