Creepy Crawly

"Next time, maybe we could do it the easy way." Firecracker Tan said as he took out a glass jar.

"This baby here, when you throw it, will have the explosives react, and then kaboom." He then said gleefully.

"Every loud bang risks us being detected. Unless we have no choice, let them do their work." Amy Lee was not convinced.

"Let's move on to the 'main chamber'." Amy Lee said.

I don't know about you, but after hearing what he had in his backpack, I made a conscious choice to stay away from Firecracker Tan.

He might just trip and then 'kaboom', you would be blown to smithereens with him.

Very soon, we entered the so-called main chamber again.

This main chamber was designed by the owner of the tomb to trick any raiders into stopping after getting there.

After all, if you had spent so much effort going through the wall, most of you would have just called it a day.

With the valuable Sandalwood coffin as a decoy, and the precious pearl inside, you would certainly feel that it was the grand finale to all your hard work.

However, it only works if the raiders didn't know what they were looking for.

Amy Lee and us, on the other hand, knew exactly what we were after.

When we arrived at the main chamber, it was the same as when we left it.

We then started to try and break down the brick wall where Bobby got bitten, with our hammer and pickaxe.

It didn't take long; the brick wall had been standing for a few hundred years by then, and it came tumbling down easily.

On the other side was another chamber, much bigger than the one we were in.

In the darkness, I could see something moving.

I shined my flashlight in the direction of the moving 'thing' and there they were.

I wasn't prepared for what was to come.

A mass orgy of the red worms, crawling all over in the chamber, on the skeletons of the human sacrifices.

It gave me goosebumps on my skin and an intense urge to puke.

If you were claustrophobic, you would have fainted right on the spot.

The worms seemed to be able to sense our presence and started to crawl in our direction.

They must have been hungry for human flesh after all these years.

After seeing what Bobby had gone through, I didn't want to experience it for myself.

When they got close, I tried to kick them aside.

But then, some of them had gotten onto my boots.

I wanted to take my boots off but decided not to do so.

Being barefooted would be worse.

Imagine if your feet were covered with worms, not an inch of your feet to be seen.

Yeah, that's how numerous these worms were.

With some worms on my boots, I took out my lighter, lit it and used it to burn those damn worms.

It worked; the few worms on my boots dropped off and went motionless on the ground.

I then shouted to the rest: "Take off your shirt, use it to burn the worms, they are afraid of fire."

I took off my shirt and lit it, swiping the burning shirt at the worms.

The worms quickly crawled away, and soon most of them coming for me had burrowed into the soil, disappearing into nowhere.

The others did what was told and the same thing worked.

"Oh boy, I think I will be having nightmares about worms from now on." Bobby said while huffing and puffing from the sudden rush of adrenaline.

"Huh. Be careful of what you wish for." I replied in jest.

With the worms out of the way, we had a good look at the chamber.

We had a good look at something else too.

Amy Lee with her shirt off, was now in a white t-shirt; all the sweat had made the shirt stick to her body, it became translucent with her black bra showing through.

I thanked her for not wearing her perfume; if not with the perfume's power, I would have pushed her to the ground there and then.

Bobby was also checking her perfectly sculpted body; I shoved him to get him out of it.

Somehow, I didn't like others gazing at Amy Lee's body.

He grinned and pointed his finger at me.

As if telling me, oh boy, you are done, you fell in love with her.

I "tsk"ed at him and continued to enter the chamber.

Inside the hidden chamber, other than the skeletons all over the ground and some stone statues, there was nothing else.

Much to the disappointment of me and Bobby.

Right in the middle of the chamber was a coffin.

This time round it was bound up in dark red colored string.

That is not something auspicious.

Legend has it that when the corpse didn't decompose, then it would have become an undead corpse.

These undead corpses were rumored to feast on the living's blood, rendering them into undead corpses too.

The dark red colored string was used to keep the undead corpse in the coffin.

Amy Lee frowned at the sight.

"Don't worry, there's no such thing as an undead corpse." Firecracker Tan patted his backpack and continued, "My babies here will bomb any undead corpse to pieces, always believe in science."

Amy Lee looked at Sea Snake Fang, seeking his opinion.

Sea Snake Fang thought about it for a while, but finally nodded with the go-ahead.

We cut the red string with our survival knife, then we tried to pry the coffin lid open.

I then saw Firecracker Tan's neck, suddenly had a dart on it.

"Everyone, look out! There's someone else."

But I was too late; the others had darts on them one by one.

Sea Snake Fang with his swift movements, dodged a few but finally he was shot with the dart.

He struggled for a few steps trying to reach the assailant before collapsing onto the ground.

Lastly it was my turn, but before I collapsed, I stared hard at the assailant.

With my vision slowly blurring, I focused and stared into the darkness.

From the man's outline, he was someone I'd seen before.

It was the Dayak man in the Snooker Parlor!