Cheyenne couldn’t hold back her tears and cried silently. She didn’t dare to look back, instead she rubbed her stomach and headed towards the entrance where they came from.
“Get that old man for me, don’t let Cheyenne escape! Hurry up and chase after them!”
“Yes!”
It was at this moment that Gracie opened the door to the tomb, and all eyes were fixed on the small cave less than a meter wide.
As the stone door slowly opened, what was hidden behind it was revealed to everyone’s eyes.
There wasn’t any legendary treasure or rare jewels. All there was inside was an ordinary black coffin.
Inside the coffin lay a dried-up corpse whose skin had turned black due to its age. The armor on its body remained intact despite being so old.
It seemed like he must have been a general who fought in battles but died hastily here without even having a decent tombstone or burial objects with him.
Gregory and Gracie looked at each other quickly with disbelief in their eyes. “How could this be? How is it possible?”
The last location on the map undoubtedly led them here, and Channing’s badge had opened up this tomb. So why did they only find one dried-up corpse inside?
Angered by this discovery, Gregory lifted up the corpse with one hand before carelessly throwing it onto the ground. He then kicked over the coffin which contained nothing except dirty stagnant water while “General of Cavalry” written on its bottom showed off his honor during his lifetime.
“Gregory, don’t get angry.” Gracie glanced at Gregory, then looked away from him as she almost vomited from disgust upon seeing how broken apart that corpse had become after being thrown down onto ground.
“How can I not be angry? Damn it! They must have taken whatever valuable items were supposed to be in here already!”
He locked his gaze onto Layne. Layne was the only one who managed to survive from here back then. He must know something.
“Tell me now! Where are all of those valuable items?”
“What valuable items? There weren’t any burial objects except for a big snake which I saw myself – believe me or not.”
Back then they only managed to reach outside of mountain cave where the tomb located because they hadn’t figured out how to open the stone doors yet before some people died while others got injured along their way there.
If it weren’t for Channing sacrificing himself by blowing everything up around them; perhaps even more people would have lost their lives under snake bites.
“You’re not fooling anyone,” said Gregory sternly while looking directly into Layne’s eyes.
“We’re going inside again right now.”
“Yes,” replied Gracie obediently.
Gracie had just taken a step forward when she suddenly felt a purple object around her waist, tightly squeezing her slender body and slamming into her stomach. The snake’s tail whipped out, sending the woman flying through the air.
“Gregory, help me!”
In the face of this monstrous creature, even someone like Gracie who had undergone special training seemed insignificant. After all, the constricting force of a python was measured in tons.
“Gracie!” Sam desperately wanted to rush to her aid but was stopped by Gregory. “That beast has become too powerful; you can’t kill it.”
“What should we do?”
“We need to divert its attention.”
With that said, he grabbed one of his men and threw him onto the python’s body while Gracie was tossed aside. Her body fell from mid-air and crashed onto the ground with excruciating pain.
Thankfully she wasn’t in any danger of losing her life.
With this snake around, they wouldn’t be able to enter deep into the ancient tomb; their only option was to kill it! However, this cave had been destroyed once by explosives and couldn’t withstand another blast or else everyone would die here.
Cheyenne took advantage of the thick fog and darkness as she retraced her steps back towards where she came from. Someone was chasing after her relentlessly but being pregnant with ruptured amniotic fluid made it difficult for Cheyenne to use all of her strength at once.
Without warning, Cheyenne slipped on something underfoot causing herself to fall down hard onto rough terrain.
“Stop!”
“She’s up ahead.”
Hearing voices behind her less than a few meters away, Cheyenne bit her lip, trying hard to stand up.
She placed one hand against what felt like cold sliminess mixed with softness before realizing what it could be – an unknown creature? Suddenly, red eyes appeared staring directly at Cheyenne filled with malice intent.
This wasn’t good; what kind of monster is this?
Cheyenne quickly pulled back her hand, about to continue running when a creature with red eyes blocked her path.
With a swift flick of its tail, the monster shattered the rocks in the cave, causing them to fall and land on the men behind her, who let out agonizing screams. The beam of the flashlight momentarily illuminated the creature in front of Cheyenne.
It was a massive serpent with deer-like antlers, its body a shade of purple, measuring about fifteen meters long and as thick as a grown man’s waist.
The appearance of the giant python instilled a primal fear in them, causing them to flee in panic, leaving behind a trail of terror.
Just as she thought she was also about to meet her demise, the creature silently slithered away, its body scraping against the rock wall, emitting a loud hissing sound.
The python left and swam towards the cave.
Grandpa!
Grandpa was still inside.
And Omari too.
When Cheyenne wanted to go back to rescue them, she couldn’t bear it anymore. Her stomach felt like it was about to explode with pain.
Feeling weak, she found a relatively dry spot and sat down against the cave wall.
“Why? Why now?”
Her continuous running had consumed a lot of energy. If the baby hadn’t been born yet, it would die from lack of oxygen. This was already her second pregnancy; Cheyenne still vividly remembered three years ago when she lost her first child in agony and torment.
“No… save me… my child… help!” She cried out for help but no one came as this remote place had no signal or way for anyone to come rescue her.
Not having any strength left, all Cheyenne could do was pick up stones from the ground and smash them against the cave walls; this narrow terrain made echoes easy to produce.
But how could anyone come here where there wasn’t even any signal?
She didn’t know how long she had been knocking on that wall until someone finally held her tightly in his arms.
“Cheyenne, I’m sorry I’m late.”
Listening to the familiar sound, Cheyenne weakly lifted her head and suddenly met a pair of pitch-black, bright eyes, filled with tears, endless longing, and profound self-blame.
It was him!
“Why did you come so late?”
With a sob in her voice, in that instant, Cheyenne released two months’ worth of anxiety, frustration, fear, and worry as teardrops fell, one by one.
Heartbroken, she threw herself into his arms and cried. If Kelvin had come earlier, would Omari still be alive?
“I’m sorry, Cheyenne. I’m so sorry.”
Her tears fell on his heart, and Kelvin couldn’t help but hold her even tighter.
This time, he would never lose her again.