David Presley - Rise of the Undead 1943

“We seen plenty of bodies, pal. You heard of Kasserine Pass?” Johnson says.

Pilch shakes his head in disgust, “Dumb ass A-rab thinking we’re scared of bodies.”

Camir says something in Arabic, and Yusif nods. He looks back to the Americans.

Monte shrugs quizzically, “Yeah?”

Yusif sighs, “Not bodies, walking dead.”

The men don’t look convinced. Yusif points to the dead priest.

“See, walking dead, undead.”

“Zombie?” Oddball asks.

“Zumbi,” Yusif responds.

Matty walks up, “No exits,” he looks to Vanessa, “So who’s the dame?”

Yusif smiles, “The archeologist from the camp. Professor Montclair.”

Vanessa tilts her head toward Yusif.

Matty looks confused, “He’s a she?”

Monte glares at Yusif. Yusif shrugs, and Monte turns to her.

“Okay, Professor, how long you been down here?”

She looks at the corpse lying on the block. Monte steps in front of her, blocking the view.

She looks up to his eyes, “Two days.”

“Anyone else in your party?”

“Diggers, but…” she looks toward the altar.

Monte turns to Pilch, “See if you can make some sort of defensive position at the door.”

“Why me?”

Monte glares at him, “You wanna keep the stripes you have?”

Pilch looks to the dead Arab man, “I’d rather keep the insides I have.”

“You worked construction; figure out a way to build us a defensive position at the door.”

Pilch nods and reluctantly heads for the door.

“Matty, go with him,” Monte orders and then turns to Vanessa, “You some sort of ‘expert’?”

Vanessa nods.

“What is this place?”

Yusif looks to Vanessa, concerned.

“Come.”

She leads them to one of the alcoves. It has ancient writing with grotesque pictures of people being tortured and killed. Vanessa points to the picture, “This was written nearly six thousand years ago. It tells of a great evil rising from the sand and falling upon humanity,” Vanessa looks at Yusif. Monte notices, but she continues, “A Sumerian king opened a doorway to the underworld in a quest for eternal life. He made a bargain with Belial…”

“Belial?” Johnson asks.

“Master of the Sumerian underworld… A demon Lord,” Vanessa explains.

Monte smirks, “A demon lord.”

Johnson frowns, “What’s a demon lord?”

Oddball looks to the pictures, “I don’t know, but it don’t sound good.”

She nods and points to a picture of the king kneeling before Belial. All of them look at the picture, the same handsome face and long hair as the statue from the entrance, “Belial killed the king, giving him eternal life… as a creature of the underworld.”

Monte shakes his head, “Sure, happens all the time.”

Vanessa continues, “With a doorway open, Belial was free to bring his legions into this world, but the king’s son battled Belial and banished him back to the underworld,” she indicates his picture on the wall, the family crest of the ancient Sumerian king, “The portal to the underworld will remain for all time, and it’s said the king’s lineage must protect us as punishment for the king’s betrayal of man.”

Monte waves his hand to shut her up, “Can any of that mumbo-jumbo show me a way out of here?”

Vanessa stares at him, irked, “Perhaps,” she points to a large map carved into the wall, “I’ll need some time.”

Monte glares at her, nods, and turns to the men.

“Mumbo-jumbo,” Vanessa mutters.

“Listen up! I want all equipment checked; we’ll dig in here for now,” Monte barks.

“We should keep going,” Yusif objects.

“Keep going!” Oddball shrieks.

“Are you nuts?” Johnson asks.

Yusif faces them, “How far behind are your engineers?”

“What does that have to do with anything?” Johnson asks.

Yusif looks to Monte.

Monte looks down, “It’ll take engineers to get us out if we can’t find a way.”

“How far?” Yusif asks again.

“Three days,” Monte tells everyone.

Oddball looks to the dead priests, “Aw man.”

“We must move, find another exit,” Yusif tells them.

“And fight more of them thingies? No thanks,” Oddball states.

“We’ll let the professor here work on that map and wait,” he tells them.

Yusif looks to Camir.

“Wait,” Yusif curses under his breath.

“Johnson, drag those bodies out of sight. Rest of you, get busy on those weapons,” Monte orders.

“Load of horse shit,” Johnson grumbles.

“That’s enough!”

Oddball smiles, “You should listen to him Sarge. He’s from Texas, and if he knows about anything, it’s horse shit.”

Oddball dodges out of Johnson’s reach.

Vanessa sits under the map on the wall making a copy on an old piece of parchment. Yusif approaches with her journal.

“Will this help?” he hands it to her. She locks eyes with him.

“Yes, thank you.”

She takes the journal. Yusif turns to leave.

“It has begun?” she asks.

Yusif looks back to her, “Yesterday.”

Vanessa thinks, “Then, you are…” she leaves it hanging.

Yusif nods. Vanessa turns to the map. It shows all of Africa and the Middle East, “Then I must hurry.”

Yusif walks to Camir who looks over a wrinkled parchment by candlelight.

Pilch and Matty sit behind the defensive barricade at the doorway. Pilch dozes off. Matty, with his back to the hallway, looks at a weathered photo of his wife and baby. Something moves in the darkness. Matty picks up the Luger.

Monte sits alone with a note-pad and pencil, somberly looking over the dog tags of those that have fallen.

Vanessa approaches.

“Well?”

She hands him the copy of the map, “Many of the passages lead to exits.”

“That’s good,” he says looking down at the map. It shows the entire Middle East, “You got to be shittin’ me.”

Vanessa shrugs, “Most of the passages lead for hundreds of miles before they surface. If you believe the map.”

“This ain’t helpin’, lady.”

“One of the exits is close,” she points it out to Monte. He nods, and she walks away as he studies the map.

Camir and Yusif are huddled over a parchment. It shows the same map. They speak in Arabic.

“A half-day’s travel,” Camir notes indicating the route, the same route.

Yusif nods, “Yes.”

“We must hurry; there isn’t much time.”

Yusif grimly nods. Camir looks over at Vanessa, who sits down next to Oddball, “Strange addition.”

“Everyone has a task.”

Camir nods and stands, “I will scout ahead.”

Vanessa leans back against the wall next to Oddball. He looks over to her, “You find us a way out of this mess?”

“I hope so.”

Oddball smiles, “I knew you would.”

Vanessa looks to Monte, who studies the map, “The men don’t seem to like the Sergeant.”

Oddball shakes his head, “Naw, we just ain’t used to him. We lost all our non-coms at Kaserrine, and ’ole Monte got promoted. One day, he’s tossin’ the baseball with us, and next he’s acting all high and mighty.”

Pilch struggles to keep his eyes open. Camir walks by and waves as he heads down one of the tunnels.

Matty waves to Camir and turns back to Pilch, “It’s gotta be religious.”

“Uh-huh”

“Some kind of curse or something.”

Matty stops cleaning the Luger, and listens. Something moves in the darkness. Matty sits up, straining his ears, peering into the tunnel, “You hear that?” he looks to the other tunnel, “I thought he went… oh well,” Matty shrugs and drops down with his back to the tunnels, “Like I was saying, it’s got to be religious. A pagan thing.”