for him, but nature, society,
and his fellow men are for him also; and all
things work together for his good if he obeys
the law. Poverty is no bar to greatness, for
poverty can always be removed. Martin Luther,
as a child, sang in the streets for bread.
Linnaeus the naturalist had only forty dollars
with which to educate himself; he mended his
own shoes and often had to beg meals from
his friends. Hugh Miller, apprenticed to a
stonemason, began to study geology in a quarry.
George Stephenson, inventor of the locomotive
engine, and one of the greatest of civil engineers,
was a coal miner, working in a mine, when
he awakened and began to think. James Watt
was a sickly child, and was not strong enough
to be sent to school. Abraham Lincoln was
a poor boy. In each of these caseshe was surrounded
by a multitude of so-called able advisers,
hardly any two of whom were agreed. At times
they were all opposed to his policies; at
times almost the whole North was opposed to
what he proposed to do. But he saw the truth
when others were misled by appearances; his
judgment was seldom or never wrong. He was
at once the ablest statesman and the best
soldier of the period. Where did he, a comparatively
unlearned man, get this wisdom? It was not
due to some peculiar formation of his skull
or to some fineness of texture of his brain.
It was not due to some physical characteristic.
It was not even a quality of mind due to superior
reasoning power.
Processes of reason do not often reach knowledge
of truth.
It was due to a spiritual insight. He perceived
truth, but where did he


distinction between true
and false greatness; and also points out the
one great danger to all who wish to become
great; the most insidious of temptations which
all must avoid and fight unceasingly who desire
to really climb in the world. Speaking to
the multitude and to his disciples he bids
them beware of adopting the principle of the
Pharisees. He points out that while the Pharisees
are just and righteous men, honorable judges,
true lawgivers and upright in their dealings
with men, they “love the uppermost seats
at feasts and greetings in the market place,
and to be called Master, Master”; and in
comparison with this principle, he says: “He
that will be great among you let him serve.”
The average person’s idea of a great man,
rather than of one who serves, is of one who
succeeds in getting himself served. He gets
himself ina position to command men; to exercise
power over them, making them obey his will.
The exercise of dominion over other people,
to most persons, is a great thing. Nothing
seems to be sweeter to the selfish soul than
this. You will always find every selfish and
undeveloped person trying to domineer over
others, to exercise control over other men.
Savage men were no sooner placed upon the
earth than they began to enslave one another.
For ages the struggle in war, diplomacy, politics,
and government has been aimed at the securing
of control over other men. Kings and princes
have drenched the soil of the earth in blood
and tears in the effort to extend their dominions
and their power to rule more people.
The struggle of the business world today is
the same as that on the battlefields of Europe
a century ago so


a good world in the process of becoming.
Beyond all doubt there was a time when there
was no life upon this earth. The testimony
of geology to the fact that the globe was
once a ball of burning gas and molten rock,
clothed about with boiling vapors, is indisputable.
And we do not know how life could have existed
under such conditions; that seems impossible.
Geology tells us that later on a crust formed,
the globe cooled and hardened, the vapors
condensed and became mist or fell in rain.
The cooled surface crumbled into soil; moisture
accumulated, ponds and seas were gathered
together, and at last somewhere in the water
or on the land appeared something that was
alive.
It is reasonable to suppose that this first
life was in single-celled organisms, but behind
these cells was the insistent urge of Spirit,
the Great One Lifeinfinitely different capacity
for growth and thought. Art and beauty, architecture
and song, poetry and music, all these were
unrealized possibilities in that ape man’s
soul. And for his time and kind he was very
good.
“It is God that works in you to will and
to do of his good pleasure,” says St. Paul.
From the day the first man appeared God began
to work IN men, putting more and more of himself
into each succeeding generation, urging them
on to larger achievements and to better conditions,
social, governmental, and domestic. Those
who looking back into ancient history see
the awful conditions which existed, the barbarities,
idolatries, and sufferings, and reading about
God in connection with these things are disposed
to feel that he was cruel and unjust to man,
should pause to think. From the ape-man to
the coming Christ man the race has had


to
rise. And it could only be accomplished by
the successive unfolding of the various powers
and possibilities latent in the human brain.
God desired to express himself, to live in
form, and not only that, but to live in a
form through which he could express himself
on the highest moral and spiritual plane.
God wanted to evolve a form in which he could
live as a god and manifest himself as a god.
This was the aim of the evolutionary force.
The ages of warfare, bloodshed, suffering,
injustice, and cruelty were tempered in many
ways with love and justice as time advanced.
And this was developing the brain of man to
a point where it should be capable of giving
full expression to the love and justice of
God. The end is not yet; God aims not at the
perfection of a few choicerest, travel, and opportunity
for study than the preceding generation.
I have heard some shortsighted economists
argue that the working people of today ought
surely to be fully contented because their
condition is so much better than that of the
workingman two hundred years ago who slept
in a windowless hut on a floor covered with
rushes in company with his pigs. If that man
had all that he was able to use for the living
of all the life he knew how to live, he was
perfectly content, and if he ha d lack he
was not contented. The man of today has a
comfortable home and very many things, indeed,
that were unknown a short period back in the
past, and if he has all that he can use for
the living of all the life he can imagine,
he will be content.


God for
the completion of the perfect work. It is
only as man sees God as the Great Advancing
Presence in all, and good in all that he can
rise to real greatness.
He must consecrate himself to the service
of the highest that is within himself, obeying
the voice of the soul. There is an Inner Light
in every man that continuously impels him
toward the highest, and he must be guided
by this light if he would become great.
He must recognize the fact that he is one
with the Father, and consciously affirm this
unity for himself and for all others. He must
know himself to be a god among gods, and act
accordingly. He must have absolute faith in
his own perceptions of truth, and begin at
home to act upon these perceptions. As he
sees the true and right course insmall things,
he must take that course. He must cease to
act unthinkingly, and begin to think; and
he must be sincere in his thought.
He must form a mental conception of himself
at the highest, and hold this conception until
it is his habitual thought-form of himself.
This thought-form he must keep continuously
in view. He must outwardly realize and express
that thought-form in his actions. He must
do everything that he does in a great way.
In dealing with his family, his neighbors,
acquaintances, and friends, he must make every
act an expression of his ideal. The man who
reaches the right viewpoint and makes full
consecration, and who fully idealizes himself
as great, and who makes every act, however
trivial, an expression of the ideal, has already
attained to greatness. Everything he does
will be done in a great way. He will make
himself known,


as can be represented by motion in a
straight line; but rather by ascension of
state, such as can be represented by metamorphosis,-from
the egg to the worm, from the worm to the
fly.
The growths of genius are of a certain total
character, that does not advance the elect
individual first over John, then Adam, then
Richard, and give to each the pain of discovered
inferiority, but by every throe of growth
the man expands there where he works, passing,
at each pulsation, classes, populations of
men. With each divine impulse the mind rends
the thin rinds of the visible and finite,
and comes out into eternity, and inspires
and expires its air.
This is the law of moral and of mental gain.
The simple rise, as by specific levity, not
into a particular virtue, but into the region
of all the virtues. They are inwill affirm.
FACTS
	In March and April, 1999, appellant committed a series of bank robberies in Houston,
Texas.  He purportedly planned to use the proceeds of the robberies to go into business with
his friend, Esteban ("Steve") Herrera.  Appellant's plan never came to fruition, however,
because Steve Herrera and his family were murdered in their home in Houston in the early
morning hours of April 24, 1999.  Appellant was the last person seen with Steve at his house
prior to the murders.
	Steve Herrera's brother, Edward, testified that he and Steve both sold drugs, and he
often supplied Steve with drugs.  A week before the murders, Edward went to the house that
Steve shared with his girlfriend, Nilda Tirado, and their three children.  Edward, Steve, and
appellant played pool and drank beer in


Steve's garage that night.  When Steve went inside
the house, appellant told Edward that he and Steve planned to open a bar together.  Edward
testified that Steve never told him that he had any plans to go into business with appellant.
	Edward saw appellant at Steve's house again on the evening of April 21.  They played
pool in the garage, and Steve went inside the house at one point.  While Steve was inside,
Edward saw appellant take a large amount of money out of his own wallet and count it.

	On April 23, Steve paged Edward at 9:00 p.m. and 11:00 p.m.  When Edward returned
his pages, Steve asked if Edward could get him some cocaine.  Steve calledEdward from
appellant's cell phone at 2:00 or 2:30 a.m. and said he was on his way home.  Edward
received pages again at 3:00 and 4:00 a.m.  He spent the night at a friend's house that night,
and he did not learn what happened to Steve and his family until the next morning.
	Steve's brother-in-law, Victor Martinez, testified that he went to Steve's house in his
white Ford Escort shortly after 10:00 p.m. on April 23.  When he arrived, the garage door
was raised and Steve and appellant were drinking beer and playing pool in the garage.
Sometime around midnight, Nilda opened the door and called to Steve.  He walked over to
her and they exchanged a few words and a kiss, then she went back inside and the


men
continued playing pool.  During the course of the evening, Victor Martinez heard Steve  and
appellant talk about trying to get some cocaine from Edward.
	They decided to go to a nightclub, Rick's Cabaret, at 12:30 a.m., so Steve lowered the
garage door, and the three men left in Martinez's car.  They arrived at around 1:00 a.m. and
left sometime after 2:00 a.m.  It took them about fifteen or twenty minutes to drive back to
Steve's house.  On the way home, Steve used appellant's phone to page Edward.  When they
returned, they talked in front of the house while Steve and appellant smoked marijuana, then
Steve and appellant went inside the garage, and Martinez drove home.  Martinez testified that
when he left, the garage door was raised andSteve and appellant were playing pool.
Martinez arrived home at about 3:30 a.m. and went directly to bed.  He testified that he never
saw appellant enter Steve's house that evening.
	Gregory Francisco, who lived across the street from Steve Herrera, testified that he
saw Steve in his driveway with two of his children at 4:30 or 5:00 p.m. on April 23.  At 9:00
or 9:30 p.m., he noticed that Steve's garage door was lowered to shoulder-level and that there
were people inside the garage listening to music.  Some vehicles were parked in front of the
house, including a white car that looked like a Ford Escort.  He went to bed at about 12:30
a.m.  When he went outside at approximately 6:00 a.m. the next morning, Steve's garage
door was lowered and


he saw smoke and heard loud music coming from the house.  No one
answered the front door when Francisco and his wife rang the doorbell, so they tried to enter
the house through the side door to the garage.  The door was hot, and there was smoke
coming out from under it.  Francisco kicked the door open and saw Steve lying face-down
in a pool of blood inside the garage, so he told his wife to call 911.  Firefighters arrived
shortly thereafter and found Nilda's badly burned body on a couch in the living room.  The
fire was confined to the couch area and was merely smoldering at the time, but the house was
filled with smoke.  Firefighters also discovered the bodies of Steve's seven-year-old
daughter, Valerie Herrera, and Nilda'sseven-year-old daughter, Rachel Elizabeth Cumpian,
in one bedroom, and the body of Steve and Nilda's twenty-two-month-old daughter, Jade
Herrera, in the master bedroom.  The children's bodies were covered in soot, and they
appeared to have died from smoke asphyxiation.
	Investigator Marshall J. Kramer testified that flammable liquids were used to
deliberately set the fire in the living room.  A burned red plastic gasoline container, an
aerosol can, and a roll of paper towels soaked in a flammable liquid were on the living room
floor, and a burned one-gallon metal can was on the couch next to Nilda's body.  The metal
can contained Kutzit, an extremely flammable liquid that is normally used to dissolve tile
glue.  Other cans of Kutzit were found in lockers inside the garage and in a storage shed
behind


the house.  Nilda was lying face-down on the couch, and there was blood around her
head.  Her body was "charred from the exterior."  Kutzit or gasoline had been poured on her
body and the couch.  Police found a spent bullet under the carpet where the couch was
located.  There were no signs of forced entry, and Steve  had a wallet in his back pocket that
contained approximately $900.
	The medical examiner who performed the autopsies testified that the three children
died from inhaling toxic levels of soot and carbon monoxide. Steve's death was caused by
a penetrating gunshot wound to the back of his neck which severed the connection between
his brain and spinal cord.  The stippling around the wound indicated that the gun was fired
within eighteen inches ofhis body.  There was no exit wound and the bullet was recovered
from his body.  Nilda died from a perforating gunshot wound to her neck that severed her
spinal cord.  The bullet entered her neck on the back right side and exited the front left side.
She suffered severe burns along the entire back side of her body that were consistent with a
flammable substance being poured on her body and set afire after she had been shot.  Sperm
cells were found on oral, vaginal, and anal swabs taken during a forensic exam of her body.
Steve's DNA was consistent with the DNA on the vaginal and anal swabs.  Appellant's DNA
was consistent with the DNA on the oral swab.
	Appellant gave two written statements to police.  In


his first written statement, he said
Steve picked him up at 8:00 or 9:00 p.m. on April 23, and they went over to Steve's house
to play pool and drink beer in the garage.  Martinez joined them at about 11:00 p.m.  They
later went to Rick's Cabaret in Martinez's car and stayed until 2:00 a.m.  Martinez drove
them back to Steve's house, where they again played pool and drank beer, and Martinez left
twenty or thirty minutes later.  At some point, Nilda opened the door leading into the garage
and gave Steve "a look," so appellant "knew it was time to leave."  Steve drove him home
in his black Honda Prelude at 4:00 a.m., and he went straight to bed.
	Appellant later changed his story when a detective asked him whathe would do if his
semen was found in or on Nilda's body.  In his second written statement, he added that he
had been having an affair with Nilda.  He said that he went inside the house at one point
during the evening while Steve remained in the garage.  He and Nilda went into a bathroom,
and he bent her over the sink and began having sex with her.  They stopped because they
mistakenly thought they heard Steve enter the house.  Then Nilda began "sucking [his] dick
and jacking [him] off," and he did not remember "if [he] came or not."  He went back into
the garage afterwards and told Steve to take him home.  He claimed that he and Nilda had
only "messed around" and kissed on prior


occasions, and that night was the first time they
had sex.  He said he had never told anyone about their affair because it would ruin Nilda's
reputation.
	Police searched the home where appellant lived with his parents and found guns,
boxes of ammunition, and receipts for guns and ammunition.  Police also found a
semiautomatic-pistol magazine that did not fit any of the weapons that were recovered.
Firearms examiner Matthew Clements examined the spent bullet found in the living room
and the bullet recovered from Steve's body and concluded that they were fired from the same
weapon.  Clements testified that the magazine recovered from appellant's home was identical
in design to a magazine for a nine-millimeter Ruger P85 pistol. (3)
	In May 1999, shortly after the murders of Steve Herrera and Nilda Tirado, appellant
confessedto committing March and April bank robberies, and he was convicted in federal
court in September 1999.  Michael Beckcom, a fellow inmate at the federal prison in
Beaumont, testified against appellant at trial.  Beckcom testified that appellant told him that
he committed the murders.  Appellant explained to Beckcom that he killed Steve because he
"took $250,000 of [his] hard-earned money." (4)  He said that he and Steve argued about the
money in the "pool room," and that he thought Steve was going to kill him, so he shot him
in the back of the head.  Nilda came into the garage during the argument and ran inside the
house to call the police.  He shot Nilda in the back of the head and she fell face down onto
the couch.


He looked for the money inside the house and could not find it.  He stated that
he set the fire to cover his tracks, and that the children were in bed and died from smoke
inhalation.  He bragged to Beckcom, "Anybody that can go into a house and take out a whole
family and get out without being seen is a bad mother fucker, and I'm that mother fucker."
	Beckcom testified that appellant told him that the police had DNA evidence, but Steve
and Nilda had an open relationship, and it was common knowledge that he and Nilda were
having an affair.  He said police were looking for a .38 caliber pistol, but that gun was not
the murder weapon, and it was "clean" because he had sold it to "some girl." He also stated
that police found two drops on his shoe that looked like blood but were actually catsup.
	Angela Serna Alvarez and Cynthia Garcia Flores, two of Nilda's closest friends,
testified that they had no knowledge of the alleged affair.  Moreover, Ms. Alvarez testified
that Nilda once told her that she did not like appellant and that he gave her "the creeps."  Ms.
Flores also testified that Nilda once told her that she was tired of appellant being at her house
and that he gave her "the creeps."  Vincent Flores, Cynthia's husband, testified that he did
not believe that Steve and Nilda had an open relationship, and he said that Steve once got
angry at him for "putting a move" on Nilda.
	During the defense case-in-chief, appellant's mother, Sandra Prible, testified


that she
met Beckcom while visiting appellant at the federal prison, after she had sent appellant a
copy of the probable-cause affidavit in his capital-murder case.  J. Brent Liedtke, a former
attorney and fellow inmate at the federal prison, testified that he saw the copy of the probable
cause affidavit when he helped appellant with his case, and he saw appellant show it to other
inmates as well.  Brian Maurice Fuller, a former federal prison inmate, testified that, in his
opinion, Beckcom was opportunistic and untruthful.  Christine Bartolla, appellant's friend,
testified that she bought a .38 Special Taurus revolver from appellant in November 1998 and
returned the gun to his father in November 2001.  Appellant's former neighbor, Christina
Gurrusquieta, testified that she looked out her window on the night of the murdercourt to conclude that the murders of Steve and
Nilda and the deaths, by smoke inhalation, of their three children were so connected that they
formed an indivisible criminal transaction.
	First, evidence of the children's deaths was part of the crime scene.  That evidence
was necessary to fully understand the situation as neighbors and firefighters found it.  From
the moment the Herrera's neighbor noticed their house was on fire, all of the people who
arrived at the scene were concerned about the survival and safety of all five family members
inside the home.  The neighbor testified that although the smoke made it virtually impossible
to breathe, he tried to break into the home repeatedly because he thought he heard the baby
cry.  Additionally, the firefighters who testified stated that they, too,


made multiple trips into
the smoke-filled home in an attempt to find survivors.  Testimony concerning the search for,
and discovery of, the children in the upstairs bedrooms was an integral part of the discovery
of the murder victims and description of the crime scene.  Second, the children's deaths were
a direct consequence of appellant's conduct of setting fire to Nilda.  According to appellant's
own statements to Michael Beckcom, he set Nilda's body on fire in the living room, knowing
that the children were asleep in the bedrooms of the house.  And although the fire self-extinguished in the living room, it is a fair inference that appellant thought that the fire would
spread throughout the rest of the house, killing the children and destroying all of the crime-scene evidence contained inside it.bodies and their locations were
admitted before the jury. (22)  Five of these photographs depict the bodies of Rachel and Valerie
as they were found in their bedroom, and two of the photographs depict Jade's body as she
was found in the master bedroom. (23)
	Specifically, State's Exhibit 47 shows Rachel lying face-down on the bedroom floor.
In State's Exhibit 49, Rachel is lying face-up on the floor, after being rolled over by the
paramedics.  State's Exhibit 50 shows Valerie's bed, with her body lying face-down at the
top of the bed and parallel to the headboard.  State's Exhibit 52 more clearly depicts
Valerie's body lying face-down on the bed.  In State's Exhibit 55, Valerie is lying face-up
on the bed, after being rolled over by the paramedics.  The other


two photographs depict
Jade's body as it was found in the master bedroom.  State's Exhibit 63 shows Jade lying face-up on the floor next to the bed, and State's Exhibit 65 offers a closer view of her body.
	In all of the photographs, the children are wearing their bedclothes, and their bodies
are covered in soot.  The photographs of the children lying face-up show the soot and mucus
that accumulated in and around their mouths and noses.  Although deceased, the children
were not mutilated or charred.  With the exception of the discoloration around their noses and
mouths, they look like they are sleeping.  The danger of unfair prejudice from the admission
of these photos is small, particularly because the jury also viewed extremely grisly
photographs of Nilda's badly burnedbody.
	These photographs accompanied the testimony of Marshall J. Kramer, who
investigated the crime scene.  Kramer testified that the children's bodies were found in the
bedrooms and that the accumulation of soot and mucus in their mouths and noses was
indicative of smoke asphyxiation. Here, Rule 403 did not prohibit witnesses from testifying
that the children died from smoke inhalation as a result of the fire.   The crime scene
photographs depicting the location and condition of the children's bodies were limited in
number, and the State focused on them only to the extent necessary to explain the neighbor's
and firefighters' attempts to account for all of the inhabitants of the house and to corroborate
Beckcom's testimony.  Therefore, the probative value of the crime-scene photographs was
not substantially outweighed by the danger of unfair prejudice,


	Specifically, State's Exhibits 144 through 146 are photographs taken during the
autopsy of Rachel.  State's Exhibit 144 is a picture of her "neck organs," showing a thick
layer of soot on her tongue and into the opening of her larynx.  State's Exhibit 145 offers a
closer view of the carbon material going down into her larynx.  State's Exhibit 146 is a
picture of her lungs, which have been dissected to show the amount of carbon material
contained within them.
	State's Exhibits 159 through 162 are photographs taken during the autopsy of Valerie.
State's Exhibit 159 depicts her "neck organs," with a thick layer of carbon material from the
tip of the tongue to the trachea.  State's Exhibit 160 is a closer view of the larynx.  State's
Exhibit 161depicts her dissected lungs and the amount of carbon material contained within
them.  State's Exhibit 162 is a picture of her esophagus, showing the amount of carbon
material that entered her stomach.
	State's Exhibits 167 through 171 are photographs taken during the autopsy of Jade.
State's Exhibit 167 shows her dissected lungs and the amount of carbon material contained
within them.  State's Exhibit 168 is a closer view of one of her lungs.  State's Exhibit 169
depicts the amount of carbon material on her dissected tongue, and State's Exhibit 170
depicts the amount of carbon material in her larynx.  State's Exhibit 171 is a picture of her
stomach, showing the amount of carbon material inside it.
	The State did


static electricity from entering a display area in which pixels and the like are formed, for example, by allowing the static electricity to flow to earth before entering the display area. JP-A No. 203761/2008 describes a configuration that protects a scan line drive circuit and the like provided in the vicinity of the display area, from external static electricity. In this configuration, a conductive film is coated on the surface of the scan line drive circuit and the like, and is grounded through an insulating film. Further, JP-A No. 21909/2001 describes an example of a diode circuit for protection against static electricity produced in the vicinity of the display area.
TFT using a-Si film is used in relatively large displays such as TV screens. On the other hand, TFTAfter a prom photo of more than 60 high school boys throwing up a Nazi salute went viral, a Wisconsin town remains split on whether the teens should be held accountable for their actions or are victims of a social media attack.

The Baraboo High School teens sparked outrage in November after their class prom photo showed them in tuxedos smiling and laughing while raising one arm or giving the white power hand signal.

One Jewish student Eva Huffaker, 15, tells the Guardian she had hoped for an apology from her classmates following the incident, and says just a couple came to her home to say sorry to her and her family.

But that was just a small majority, as Huffaker says that within the school the boys in the photo


are seen as the victims of social media backlash.

A prom photo of about 60 students from Baraboo High School threw up the Nazi salute in a photo that went viral in November. Many of the students refuse to apologize, believing that it was simply a joke that's been blown out of proportion

Parents voiced their concerns with the viral image at a Baraboo School Board meeting on November 12, and still remain split on whether the boys should be held accountable for their actions or are victims of a social media attack

'There were students who immediately after the picture came out went around saying ''We're Baraboo proud'', kind of implying that they're not against this,' Huffaker said. 'And there have been antisemitic comments.

'There was an incident where a kidthat many of the students say it was only a joke and the whole issue is being blown out of proportion, something she finds hurtful.

Meanwhile, photographer Peter Gust who took the photo in May but posted it to his website in November, defended the students by saying the gesture was taken out of context.

'I said, ''OK boys, you're going to say goodbye to your parents. So wave''' Gust said. 'For society to now turn it around and now blame these kids is absolutely wrong.'

The Twitter account for the Auschwitz Memorial in Poland tweeted their horror after seeing the photo when it first went viral in November

The photo emerged on Twitter after being shared by an account called 'Welcome to Baraboo'. The account was later made private

The photo emerged


received calls from Nganzai that Boko Haram killed 23 people near Badu Kuluwu this morning,” said the official, who asked not to be identified for his own safety.

Local hunters and militia recovered the bodies after survivors returned to the village and alerted them, Nganzai resident Saleh Masida said.

Boko Haram fighters have been repeatedly attacking Nganzai district.

In September last year, the group killed eight people and stole livestock in two villages in the area after residents tried to stop them from taking their animals.

Boko Haram and its Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL or ISIS) supported ISWAP splinter have intensified attacks on civilian and military targets in recent months.

Late Thursday, Boko Haram fighters attacked a camp for displaced people outside Maiduguri, killing two residents and looting foodFor indispensable reporting on the coronavirus crisis, the election, and more, subscribe to the Mother Jones Daily newsletter.

The head of the Environmental Protection Agency’s Office on Environmental Justice submitted his resignation on Tuesday. First reported by InsideClimate News, the resignation of Mustafa Ali comes as the Trump administration considers layoffs and budget cuts at the EPA that, if enacted, would eliminate the environmental justice budget and cut funding to grants for pollution cleanup.

Ali, a founder of the program in 1992 who has worked there since, told Mother Jones he resigned because he was concerned the administration’s proposals to roll back its environmental justice work would disproportionately affect vulnerable communities. “That is something that I could not be a part of,” Ali says.

“Each new administration has an opportunity to


Has Memphis become a OAD factory like Kentucky and Duke? — Ken Devils (@ken_devils) May 12, 2019

Lester Quinones (Nick Lucero/Rivals.com)

Memphis has been on a roll for the past several months. Not only have the Tigers landed the top-ranked prospect in America, James Wiseman, or three other Rivals150 members from the area, but Penny Hardaway is now showing that he can secure the best from outside of his region. Within the past five days, the Tigers celebrated the commitments of top-50 wing Lester Quinones, arguably the best grad-transfer available this spring in Rayjon Tucker and former Duke recruit Boogie Ellis. Their 2019 class sits as the best nationally and could get better as they are among in the running for Precious Achiuwa and R.J. Hampton. This all comes aPrime Minister Imran Khan is set to leave for a three-day visit to China on Monday to discuss regional and bilateral issues with its strategic partner, according to Radio Pakistan Premier Imran will hold separate meetings with President Xi Jinping and his Chinese counterpart Li Keqiang.He will also discuss expansion of projects under the multibillion-dollar China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) framework.Cooperation in agriculture, industrial and socio-economic sectors are also part of the prime minister's agenda on the official visit.It is expected that he will address the China-Pakistan Business Forum in Beijing to further promote economic and trade exchanges between the two neighbouring countries.PM Imran will also meet Chinese entrepreneurs and heads of different companies during the visit.The two sides will discuss immediate implementation of Phase-II of China-Pakistan Free Trade


peeping tom, and had awoken her. The comfortable
warmth of the tent would soon give way to the stifling heat of Egypt in early
summer. The Tomb Raider knew the local Arab crew she'd hired would arrive
soon, and then she would be out in the hot North African sun, supervising
her latest archeological project in the land of the Pharaohs.

Lara rubbed her dark brown eyes and rolled her tongue around in her mouth.
She then slowly ran her hands down over her voluptuous but toned body. Her
fingertips danced over her tanned skin. She had always preferred sleeping
in the raw, and her frequent forays to steamy jungles or arid deserts in
search of ancient treasure made the habit sensible. Lara gave her large breasts
a gentle caress, then a squeeze. Her right hand continued itsjourney down
her body, pausing to tease the trimmed patch of dark, downy hairs that adorned
her sex. She moaned softly at the sensation of her fingers caressing her
sensitive--and very moist--labia.

"Damn," she whispered, "it's been too long..."

The morning sun had interrupted a compelling erotic dream--more of a memory,
really. It had been three months, three long, dry, tedious months since that
night with the American billionaire in Rio. He'd been magnificent--tall,
handsome, extremely well-built, and just a little mysterious--why would a
rich man have so many scars on his body? Evidently he was also an adventurer
like her, but he'd been reticent on the topic. Not that Lara minded; her
interest in him was purely recreational, and he'd proven very skilled in
that regard, and very intense as well. Lara took a deep breath and
smiled lasciviously, remembering


their night-long session of passionate
love-making.

"Mmmm..." she purred, "I shall have to give Bruce a call when I'm done here."
Lara pushed herself up to a sitting position on her cot. "Perhaps I'll invite
him to London," she posited, thinking she could entice him with a night in
the West End, taking in a play...then she shook her head and laughed softly
as she thought of a much better way of tempting him to visit her.

Lara stood up and took three steps towards a canvas changing screen that
also served as a room divider for her tent. Her long, braided ponytail swished
against her naked ass as she walked. She reached for her clothing, her trademark
tank top and shorts, which hung on the top edge of the screen. Suddenly Lara
paused. Something wasn't right. Her gunbelt should have been there as well,
but it wasn't. The fog of sleep lifted from her mind in an instant, but it
was an instant too late.

The screen suddenly tipped forwards, crashing into Lara and making her fall
back. The beautiful English adventurer landed unceremoniously on her behind.
The screen fell on top of her with a clatter, followed by two men who had
been hiding behind it. Their combined weight trapped her beneath the canvas
screen; only Lara's head, which was just above the top edge of the screen,
remained free.

"What the bloody heMMMMPPHHH!!" Lara exclaimed as something soft and wet
was placed over her lower face. Lara started to take a breath, but stopped,
her brown eyes going wide, as she recognized the sickly-sweet scent of
chloroform. She held her breath and struggled beneath the


canvas and the
weight of her attackers.

She looked up at the men who had attacked her; their heads were almost completely
covered by the white headgear favored by the Taureg Bedouins of North Africa.
Narrow gaps in the fabric wrapped around their heads revealed two pairs of
dark, pitiless eyes.

"Take a breath and go back to sleep, you white whore," one of them
muttered in Arabic. He pressed the chloroform-soaked rag tighter against
her face. It completely covered her nose and mouth.

"GRRRMMPPHH!!" Lara growled, her eyes blazing with anger at the man's insulting
remark. She struggled to get out from under the weight of the two men, and
away from the chloroform. She tried to turn her head, but the man's grip
was too strong. She managed to force one hand free from beneath the canvas
screen, butthe man's partner grabbed her wrist and held the arm down.

The Tomb Raider gave a frustrated whimper as she realized she could hold
her breath no longer. She took a breath and immediately felt the effects
of the sleeping drug. Her brown eyes rolled back into her head as her eyelids,
with their long, dark lashes, fluttered helplessly. Her struggles grew weaker.
Her jaw slackened. Still she tried to resist, tried to twist her head away
from the fumes that would rob her of consciousness, but to no avail.

"HHHrrrrmmmm..." Lara moaned in despair as she took yet another breath of
the incapacitating vapors. Her body ceased its struggling and became limp.

"Yes, that's it, white whore," the Bedouin hissed at her as he watched
her eyelids grow heavy and her pupils dilating. "Breathe and sleep."

"Mmmpphh..." the


Tomb Raider whimpered as she took one more breath of the
chloroform. Her eyes closed and her head lolled to one side as consciousness
left her.

The Bedouin lifted the chloroform-soaked rag from her face and nodded to
his partner. They pushed themselves off of the collapsed canvas screen that
had held the voluptuous Englishwoman beneath them. The two attackers lifted
the screen from where it lay atop Lara's naked, unconscious body. She took
a slow, shallow breath, which made her large breasts rise and fall gently
on her chest. The two men stared at her curvaceous form, speechless in the
face of such womanly beauty.

"Allah akbar!" one of them exclaimed. He reached beneath his robes
to touch his cock, which had grown hard and erect as the beautiful Westerner
had struggled beneath him.

The other man, the one whohad wielded the chloroform, swatted at his partner's
hand angrily. "Fool! Would you sully yourself with an infidel whore such
as this?"

"My apologies, brother," the other muttered, though an angry and
disappointed tone remained in his voice.

"Besides, we're being paid to subdue and deliver her, not to ravish and
humiliate her," the obviously older man continued, his voice somewhat
gentler while still retaining the tone of command. "I should imagine the
man who hired us wants to reserve that pleasure for himself, no?"

"Eh, you were thinking, little brother...but with your cock, as usual!"
the older man said, then clapped his companion on the back good-naturedly.
Both men laughed softly at his joke. "You have the ropes?"

"Of course," the younger man responded, retrieving several lengths
of hemp from the ground behind him.

"Excellent. Let's get to work..."

Part 1: The


Pharaoh

"NNNGGFFF!! MMRRRPPHH!!" Lara Croft grunted as she struggled with her bonds.

She had awoken only a moment before and found herself naked, bound, and gagged.
She was alone in what appeared to be a dark, dank ancient Egyptian crypt.
The air was cool on her bare skin. A half-dozen or so torches blazed where
they had been inserted into slots in the walls, providing the only illumination.
There was a large, elevated stone slab in the middle of the tomb, and an
empty, open sarcophagus in one corner.

Rope surrounded Lara's naked body
and rendered her almost completely immobile. One length of rope bound her
elbows and wrists together behind her back. Another rope wound around her
slender hips, over the top of her shapely behind, and back down between her
thighs before it wound around her ankles, bindingher legs into a bent position.
One other rope ran around the back of her neck, down to her chest, and was
looped around her large breasts in a figure eight. This last binding seemed
to serve no practical purpose other than to highlight Lara's magnificent
breasts...and to humiliate her.

Despite her bonds, Lara had managed to awkwardly and painfully push herself
to a position where she sat on her haunches. She tugged at the ropes, wrenching
her curvaceous form back and forth, and pulled at the tight knots with her
fingers, but it was no use. She was expertly bound and could not get free.
She angrily panted through the cloth in her mouth; a glow of perspiration
had appeared on her tanned skin despite the dank coolness of the underground
tomb.

Lara looked around in the crypt for


some sort of cutting edge--a sharp rock
would do, something she could use to cut into the ropes that rendered her
helpless. She saw nothing of use. There were no loose stones in the tomb,
and the huge rocks making up the walls all looked too smooth to be of service.

"HRRRRRPPPHH!!" Lara growled angrily as the hopelessness of her situation
sank in. The only way into or out of the tomb appeared to be through a door
that was blocked by a heavy stone. She doubted she could have moved it on
her own even without the bonds. She had no idea how long she'd been unconscious,
where she was, or why she'd been brought here. There was no sign of the two
Bedouin men who had chloroformed her. And to top it all off, shewas naked--never
a good sign.

Lara gave an exasperated sigh and settled back onto her haunches to wait.
Sooner or later, someone would come for her, then she'd find out what this
was all about. She considered the disturbing notion that she'd been abandoned
in the tomb to become one of its permanent residents, but dismissed the idea.
Even her worst enemies would want to gloat and leave her knowing exactly
who had defeated her.

A moment later, she heard the deep, rumbling sound of stone grating against
stone. Lara looked at the stone doorway and watched as it moved; someone
was pushing it out of the way, obviously with great effort. The stone door
must weigh several hundred pounds, Lara realized. As the door opened, she
saw the hands and arms of several men appear as they continued to


shove it
aside.

Once the stone door had been moved completely aside, there was a pause. Then
Lara watched as several men, all apparently Arabic judging by their appearance,
entered the room. The Tomb Raider's brown eyes went wide at their dress.
All of them wore the headdress, linen kilt, and sandals typical of Ancient
Egyptians! They looked like a bunch of extras from an old Cecil B. DeMille
movie. She counted six of them in total. Their dark eyes glanced at her naked
body briefly as they entered the crypt. They came to stand beside and behind
her in a semi-circle. Their collective gaze left Lara to look expectantly
at the door they'd just come through.

A moment later, a seventh man walked into the crypt, dressed like his
compatriots, but more resplendently. Even in the dim light ofthe crypt,
gold accents shimmered on his headdress. He also wore a large, semi-circular
collar of gold and lapis lazuli over his upper chest. His strong arms were
crossed, and each arm held a short staff, one representing the lotus, the
other papyrus--the ancient symbols of Upper and Lower Egypt. He wore a
tightly-braided ceremonial beard on his chin. He had dark features: the swarthy
skin of an Egyptian, heavy arched brows, a long, straight nose, thin lips.
His body was strong and lean. Lara had to admit he looked every inch the
Pharaoh. She wondered if she'd found herself the captive audience of some
bizarre historical re-enactment society.

The seventh man walked into the crypt with a slow, dignified gait. He eyed
Lara briefly, almost superciliously, his face impassive even in the presence
of her naked beauty. He came


to stand, stock-still, barely a yard in front
of her. He nodded to his subordinates; two stepped forward, each one taking
one of his staffs. He let his arms hang loosely at his sides. He then looked
down his long, straight nose at his captive.

"Lady Lara Croft," he pronounced in perfect English that held the barest
hint of an Arabic accent. One of Lara's brows rose in response. "No doubt
you are wondering why you have been brought here, who I am, and what my plans
are for you." He sounded almost bored as he said the words. "Though I owe
you no explanation--especially since your actions make you little more than
one of the grave robbers my ancestors regularly sentenced to death--I will
give you one, only because we are both aristocrats."

Lara snorted derisively in response,but the man ignored her and went on.

"The name by which I am known in modern society would have less meaning to
you than it does to me," the impassive Egyptian said. "My true name
is Rameses the Twelfth. I am the descendant of the God-kings of the 20th
dynasty." Lara gave another derisive snort, indicating her opinion of his
claim. "I care not whether you believe me or no. High-born though you are,
you are still beneath me. You will serve your purpose to me, then your fate
is of no consequence."

Lara suppressed a shudder at his words, which were delivered so quietly and
evenly. She'd encountered many adversaries in her adventures and had made
many enemies. She'd lost track of how many people wanted her dead. But all
of her foes had felt some emotion


the four
burly men carried her to a large, rectangular, elevated stone slab in the
middle of the tomb. They set her naked body down on the slab, which was about
as high, and twice as wide and long, as an examination table in a doctor's
office. Lara shivered as her naked skin contacted the cool, smooth surface
of the stone.

The men pushed her into a sitting position on the slab. Then one of the men
stood in front of her while the other three held her bound limbs. He reached
down to his right side and pulled a large ceremonial dagger from a leather
sheath on his belt. He held it in front of Lara's eyes, which went wide with
trepidation. She looked in the man's dark eyes and silently cursed him for
the sadistic amusement shesaw there.

The man slowly moved the knife tip towards Lara's chest. She grunted and
writhed in protest, but the other three men held her firm. A malevolent smirk
came to the knife-wielder's cruel lips. He brushed the sharp tip of the knife
blade over Lara's right nipple, making the helpless Englishwoman gasp anxiously.
Then the man did something unexpected: he pushed the knife blade beneath
the rope around Lara's breasts, right where it crossed over itself at her
sternum, and began to saw through it.

Once he finished cutting the rope, he pulled it harshly from Lara's body;
she inhaled through clenched teeth as the abrasive hemp burned her tender
skin. The knife-wielder then drew the knife down over Lara's taut, quivering
tummy. She swallowed hard as she felt the cool tip of the knife scraping
the downy hairs


that adorned her sex. Then the sadistic knife-wielder pressed
the blade beneath the rope that bound her ankles to her thighs and cut through
it.

Lara tried to lash out with her legs once they were free, but her captors
had anticipated this maneuver and held her long, shapely legs immobile. They
roughly pushed her forward until she lay face-first on the slab, her breasts
squashed against its cool surface. Two of the men held her legs against the
slab, while the third pressed her torso down. She felt the knife-wielder
cutting through the rope around her elbows and wrists. Lara knew she'd never
have a better chance. She wriggled and writhed with all her might as soon
as her arms were free, but the men anticipated her escape attempt. Indeed,
they seemed very practiced at this sort ofthing, no doubt as a result of
the previous ceremonies with the unfortunate prostitutes.

Finally, the knife-wielder cut through the gag and pulled the cloth, which
was drenched with her saliva, from Lara's mouth.

"ARRRRHHH!!" The Tomb Raider snarled from the slab where her captors still
held her. "You bloody burkes! I'll have your balls for this!!" She writhed
ineffectually in their grasp.

"That's not too far from the truth, slut," the knife-wielder hissed into
her ear.

"Anuk-Met!" Rameses called from the far side of the crypt, where his back
was turned, his arms spread wide, while two attendants appeared to be adjusting
his kilt. "Do not deign to address the sacrifice. Your task is to prepare
it, nothing more."

"Yes, sire," Anuk-Met, the knife-wielder, said with a deferential bow to
the would-be Pharaoh. He turned back towards Lara where she continued


to
struggle in the grip of her captors on the stone slab. "I think she's done
on this side. Time to turn her over."

Anuk-Met grabbed Lara's braided pony-tail with one hand, lifted her head,
then slammed it down against the stone slab, stunning her. He then joined
in with the other three men as they flipped the dazed Tomb Raider over onto
her back. Each man grabbed one limb and held her down on the slab while Lara
groaned and tried to shake the dizziness and pain that Anuk-Met's blow had
caused her.

Rameses turned around and approached the stone slab where Lara lay, his two
attendants following on his heels. Lara's head lolled from side to side;
she squeezed her eyes shut and gave her head a shake in an attempt to clear
her vision. She opened hereyes again and glanced at Rameses, who now stood
at the end of the table where his accomplices were holding Lara's legs spread
open. She glanced down at his mid-section and gasped.

There, around Rameses' hips, his attendants
had attached a golden phallus--certainly the priciest dildo Lara had ever
seen. His own cock was obviously inside the phallus. And the thing was huge!
It was nearly a foot long, and had more girth than any cock she'd every seen.
Lara's dizziness cleared up in an instant as her mind filled with terror
over what was about to happen.

"Bloody hell!" she exclaimed as her naked body writhed desperately
on the stone slab, her breasts jiggling enticingly. "You can't be serious!
It won't bloody fit, you stupid git!"

"That is precisely the point, Lady Croft," Rameses declared impassively.
"The member of a


God-King is considerably larger than that of a normal man.
Your channel must be prepared." The would-be Pharaoh advanced upon the helpless
Tomb Raider. The men who held her legs spread them wider. They shimmied Lara's
torso down the stone slab so her behind rested on its ledge, providing easy
access to her pussy for Rameses and his golden dildo.

"NO!!!" Lara yelled, desperately trying to writhe away from the huge phallus.
Her struggles were futile; Rameses' henchmen held her naked body firmly.
The would-be Pharaoh positioned the tip of the shining dildo at Lara's parted
labia.

"You should be honored, Lady Croft," he told her. "Soon you will spend eternity
with the Gods and God-Kings of Egypt."

"Hm. Amusing," Rameses declared dispassionately. He pushed his hips forward
and began to force the phallus into Lara's vulnerable pussy.

"NOOOOO!!!" Lara screechedas she felt the cold metal dildo penetrating her.
Rameses' attendants had coated it with some sort of lubricant, which made
it slide into her easier, but did nothing to lessen the pain as it spread
her vagina wider than it had ever been stretched before. Her head fell back
against the stone slab, and she ground her teeth together in a pained grimace
as the phallus worked its way inside her tender pussy.

"Hold her firm," Rameses told his men. He pressed the dildo deeper into the
helpless archeologist and watched with detachment as she bucked beneath him.
"Ah, how she writhes! A pity we did not meet after I had ascended the throne,
Lady Croft. You would have made a fine concubine."

"Go to hell, you bastAAAAAAAARRRRRRDDD!!" Lara cried as Rameses pushed the
phallus so deep it


jutted against her cervix. Tears of humiliation and pain
formed in Lara's brown eyes. Her large breasts heaved and jiggled on her
chest as she gulped air. On top of the emotional and physical agony of the
rape, the regal detachment of her assailant and his henchmen sent shivers
down her spine. She was little more than a sacrificial animal to them; she
could expect no mercy at their hands.

Rameses suddenly withdrew the dildo from Lara's pussy, making her sigh with
relief. Then he violently thrust it back into her, and her agony began anew.

"GAAAAHHHHH!!" Lara screamed as the huge golden phallus filled her to the
hilt. Rameses began to rock his hips back and forth, driving the metal dildo
in and out of her vagina like an obscene piston. He began to recite some
sort ofincantation in ancient Egyptian as the rape continued, his henchman
periodically responding in unison to his words, also in the dead tongue.
Their litany continued unabated for several minutes, punctuated by Lara's
cries, grunts, and screams.

"OH!! GOD!!" she exclaimed, her head rocking from side to side. "UNGH!! UNGH!!
UNGH!!" Her large breasts rocked up and down on her chest with each thrust.
Sweat covered her body. "STOP IT!! PLEASE!!"

Her pleas went unanswered. The men ignored her, continuing to recite their
call-and-response incantations in ancient Egyptian. After several minutes
passed, Lara gave up her useless struggles. She lay there on the slab, her
exhausted body rocking back and forth, a grunt escaping her luscious lips
with each of Rameses' devastating thrusts. Tears of indignant, impotent rage
spilled from her eyes and rolled down her cheeks. Though her situation appeared
hopeless,


Lara Croft, Tomb Raider, silently swore that no matter what occurred,
somehow, she would have her revenge.

"UHH...UHH...UHH...UHH..." Lara grunted in resigned agony as Rameses pumped
his gilded dildo in and out of her pussy while the incantation droned on.
Being raped was one thing, but to be defiled in such a cold and impersonal
manner disturbed her deeply. The assault made her feel less than human.

Lara lost track of time, but eventually the incantation came to a stop and
Rameses withdrew the phallus from her ravaged pussy with a loud slurping
noise.

"UUUNNNNGGGHHH!!" Lara groaned as the golden dildo left her vagina for the
last time. She drew ragged, gasping breaths as her body trembled in the grip
of her merciless captors. She watched through half-closed eyes as Rameses'
attendants removed the phallus from their master's trim hips.Lara could
see streaks of red on the golden prick and knew it was her own blood.

"An excellent ceremony," Rameses declared. "Surely the God-Kings will hear
my prayer this time. We will leave the sacrifice for them and await their
pleasure."

With that, the would-be Pharaoh's henchmen lifted Lara's limp body from the
stone slab and carried her towards a wall covered with hieroglyphics. Holes
had been drilled, perhaps centuries before, next to the wall in the stone
ceiling beams of the tomb. The men ran ropes through the holes and tied them
around Lara's wrists, binding her arms and holding them up and apart. If
not for the bindings, the exhausted Tomb Raider would have collapsed to the
cold stone floor of the crypt.

One of Rameses' attendants approached Lara with
a wet sponge, which he used to wipe


the sweat from her body, as well as the
blood and lubricant from between her legs. Lara moaned as the sponge touched
her ravaged and sensitive pussy lips. When the attendant was finished, she
raised her head and looked up through heavy-lidded eyes as Rameses, his linen
kilt back around his mid-section, stood in front of her naked body.

"R-right...what now, then?" Lara asked in a tired voice that still managed
to convey her contempt for her assailant.

"Now we leave you for the ancient God-Kings. They will come and claim you.
You will not survive the coupling; whatever agony you suffered with me will
seem a mere pin-prick compared to the mighty ravaging of a God."

"What the bloody hell ever," Lara muttered dismissively. She frowned and
glanced at the door. Rameses' men were already filing out, eachour traditions, and out
of respect for your status as an aristocrat, I leave you this satchel with
your meager belongings," he said, tossing her backpack, obviously purloined
from her tent, onto the stone floor of the tomb a few feet from her bound
and naked body. Restrained as she was, the backpack was useless to Lara,
and Rameses' gesture was meaningless to her. "Perhaps its contents will prove
of use to you in the afterlife. I bid you farewell, Lady Croft."

Rameses turned from her. He pulled the last torch from the wall of the tomb
and followed his henchmen out, leaving Lara to stare in growing horror at
this back. The crypt grew dark as Rameses carried out the last torch. The
dim glow of the torches held by the henchmen outside the entrance now provided
the


only light.

"NO!!" Lara cried desperately from the darkening gloom. "You can't do this!
This is MURDER!!"

Lara heard the sound of stone grating against stone, and watched, her heart
hammering in her chest, as the stone slab was pushed back over the entrance
to the tomb. The dark closed in around her. Her brown eyes were wide with
terror; she pulled desperately at her restraints. The ropes, brand new and
strong, held her in place. She glanced at the door; it was nearly shut.

"PLEASE!!!" she cried out desperately.

Then the stone door grated shut with an ominous thud, leaving Lara
Croft alone, bound, and helpless in absolute darkness, sealed in a tomb that
would, apparently, soon be her own.

Part 2: The Mummies

Lara Croft calmed herself and considered her situation. She was naked and
bound, hanging from thick ropestied tightly around her wrists and anchored
to stone ceiling beams above her. She was sealed in a dark tomb behind a
stone door that apparently weighed several hundred pounds and required several
men to be moved. No one knew where she was aside from the men who'd left
her here to die. And she had just been raped and was physically and emotionally
exhausted. A lesser woman would have panicked or given into despair. But
not Lara Croft, Tomb Raider.

She forced herself to consider the positives. She was still alive, for one.
For another, there was no time limit to her escape--no ticking bomb, no clever
death-trap device that was set to claim her after a given interval. She had
several hours--days, even--before starvation and dehydration claimed her.
And her captor had sportingly left her backpack for


her, which--assuming
it hadn't been tampered with--contained clothing, an electric torch, water,
some food bars, a spare gun belt, a small medical kit, and a few other items
that might prove useful. At the very least, the food and water would restore
some of her strength, allow her to stave off death by starvation a little
longer, and buy her more time to find a way out. She just had to get to it.

Lara pulled herself up towards the ceiling, using the ropes around her wrists
to support her weight. The binding around her left wrist felt like it had
just a little more give than that on the right, so Lara pulled her body up
towards the left and tilted her head towards the ropes there. She began to
work the knot with her lips, tongueand teeth, first feeling it out to determine
what type of knot it was.

After a few minutes of exploring the knot, the strain on her arm and shoulder
muscles became overwhelming, and the Tomb Raider let herself drop back to
the ground. She stood, panting for breath, her breasts rising and falling
in the pitch black gloom of the crypt. She could feel sweat forming on her
naked skin.

"Take your time, Croft," she coached herself. "Plenty of time. Nothing but
time..."

A few minutes later, Lara lifted herself again. The strain returned almost
immediately to the muscles of her torso, but she ignored the discomfort and
began to work at the stubborn knot with her mouth. After a few minutes without
success, she collapsed back to the ground.

"Bloody hell!" she exclaimed. "Why do I always have to get


tied up by the
ones with the boy scout merit badges?!?"

Lara lost track of time in the dank, dark tomb as she began a cycle of lifting
herself to work the knot, then lowering herself to rest. It began to feel
like a frustrating game of snakes and ladders as the act of lifting and lowering
her weight pulled on the ropes and took out whatever meager amount of slack
she'd managed to work into the knot. At one point she slipped and felt the
binding go tighter than it had been before. She blinked away tears of frustration
and forced herself to start over.

As time passed, Lara began to feel she was making progress. She could feel
the knot ever-so-gradually loosening around her wrist. Sweat ran freely down
her naked body as she worked harder thecloser she came to freedom. Her heart
pounded in her chest with excitement.

"Come on...just a bit more!" she said, coaxing herself to get back at it.

Her arms and shoulders were a mass of burning, agonized muscles. Her throat
was parched, and she couldn't remember if she'd ever felt so exhausted in
her life. But the loosening sensation in the ropes fired her adrenaline and
determination. She lifted herself with a pained but determined groan and
worked the knot with her lips and teeth some more. She lowered herself carefully,
doing her best not to tug on her left-handed binding and tighten it. She
pulled her left arm down. Her hand got stuck in the rope around her knuckles.
Lara shouted angrily and grimaced. The rope scraped and burned the flesh
on her hand, but she pulled it


through...she was free!

"YES!!!" she cried exultantly. "Bloody brilliant, Croft!!" The tomb echoed
with the sound of her giddy laughter. After a few minutes rest, Lara freed
her right hand--a much simpler task now that her left was free. Once she'd
removed herself from her bonds, Lara collapsed onto the cold stone floor
of the crypt. She laid her head back against the stone wall and let circulation
return to her sore, aching arms and shoulders, which were trembling with
fatigue.

A few minutes later, Lara crawled along the floor towards the door. After
several frustrating minutes of groping blindly, she touched the strap of
her backpack and gasped with excitement and relief. She opened the pack and
found her water bottle. It took all her self-control to take no more than
a mouthful of the precious fluid; she knewshe'd probably have to ration
it. Lara also helped herself to a bite of one of her energy bars. They usually
tasted like cardboard soaked in molasses, but at that moment, she couldn't
remember ever tasting anything so delicious in her life.

With a small amount of food in her system, Lara felt some of her strength
returning. She found her electric torch and turned it on, then pulled on
a white tank top, a pair of khaki shorts, fingerless black leather gloves,
and some sandals. She wasn't expecting company, of course, but getting dressed
made her feel more normal and confident. She left her gun belt in the backpack
for now; her body, still weakened, could do without the added weight.

"Brilliant," she said brightly, feeling more herself. "On to problem two:
getting to hell out."

Lara set the


torch on the stone slab where she'd been assaulted, and pointed
its light at the doorway. She pressed her weight against the stone door and
proved to herself that it did, indeed, weigh several hundred pounds. She
gave it a determined shove, grunting with exertion as she attempted to move
the heavy stone. It didn't budge. Lara took a step back and stared at the
barred entryway in frustration.

"There has to be another way," she told herself. The experienced Tomb Raider
knew there was almost always more than one way in or out of these places.
It might only be a slender shaft dug through the rock by ancient grave robbers,
but it would be enough. She grabbed her torch and began to patiently examine
the tomb for the telltale signs of an alternate entryway.

Several minutes wentby as Lara continued her search. She was on her knees,
examining one corner of the tomb, when she heard something behind her. It
sounded like stone grating against stone. Had Rameses and his men returned
for some reason? She shone her torch at the entryway, but the stone door
did not move. She frowned. The sound stopped just as Lara realized it had
originated from the far side of the stone table in the middle of the crypt.
She shone her light towards the large slab where she'd been assaulted, but
saw nothing. Warily, she stood up and crept towards the slab. She cursed
silently when she realized she'd left her backpack, containing her pistols,
in the far opposite corner. Whoever, or whatever, had just entered the crypt
was between her and her only weapons.

Lara walked cautiously


around the slab and pointed her torch at the floor.
She saw that another stone slab, about the size of a manhole cover, had been
pushed away from a hole in the floor. Lara smiled at the proof that her
assumption had been correct; there was, indeed, another way out of the tomb.
But who moved that stone, and where are they? Lara wondered. She shone
her torch into the hole, but could see no one.

Suddenly, Lara heard a scuffling noise from behind her. She turned and shone
her torch at the sound. She gasped at what she saw. It was a mummy, wrapped
in ancient gauze and running straight at her!

Lara tried to recover from her shock and evade the creature's attack. She
began to pivot on her back heel, intending to execute an aikidomaneuver
that would guide her assailant harmlessly past her by using its own momentum,
but she didn't move fast enough. The creature's shoulder slammed against
her side, knocking the wind out of her and making her fall to the ground,
where she landed on her back. Her electric torch rolled from her hand but
remained on, providing the only illumination in the tomb. The mummy landed
with a grunt beside her, then tossed itself on top of her, grabbing her arms
and pinning them above her head, its bandaged legs between hers.

"Get off, you fetid pile of rags!" Lara snarled at the creature. It growled
back at her. It seemed no stronger than a normal man, and Lara would ordinarily
have been able to defeat it, but her ordeal had weakened her considerably.
She grunted and writhed beneath


the creature, which seemed remarkably hale
and hearty for a disemboweled corpse that was several centuries old. Lara
could not escape its grasp, but she at least seemed to be holding her own.

Then Lara heard several other growling noises, and turned towards the hole
in the crypt's floor. She gasped as she saw several more mummies emerging
from the hole, all growling angrily and advancing upon her and her original
assailant. Within seconds, the creatures attacking Lara had multiplied from
one to a half dozen. A couple of the mummies carried flaming torches, which
they placed in holes in the crypt's walls before turning their attention
to the hapless Tomb Raider.

The mummies held her limbs, pressing her down against the cold stone floor.
Lara clenched her teeth and grimaced as she grunted in frustration and anger.
She writhedin a futile attempt to escape their grip, but only succeeded
in jiggling her large, firm breasts.

The motion of her voluptuous body seemed to fascinate the mummies. They growled
in obvious appreciation. Then one of them reached forward and placed its
gauze-covered hand on one of her breasts.

"RRRRRUURRRHHH!!!" he snarled in admiration, giving the huge mammary a squeeze
and a shake.

"ARGH!!" Lara exclaimed. "Let go, you bastard!"

The mummies suddenly erupted in rough, throaty laughter. As one, they glanced
at each other and nodded enthusiastically. Then they reached out with their
free hands and grabbed Lara's clothing. She glanced at her attackers and
saw, in the torch light, that strategic gaps in their wrappings allowed their
privates to be exposed. All the mummies had erections--remarkably large and
healthy ones.

"NO!!" the Tomb Raider cried as she immediately realized their


intent. The
mummies responded with another round of rough, throaty laughter.

The crypt echoed with the sound of
tearing fabric and Lara's cries of angry frustration as the mummies made
short work of Lara's tank top and shorts. Within seconds, her large breasts,
ass, and pussy were exposed; mere rags hung from her torso and shapely hips.
Free from the meager restraint of her cotton top, Lara's breasts jiggled
enticingly as she struggled in the grip of the creatures.

Lara looked down between her legs and saw one of the mummies positioning
his large, hard member at the entrance to her vagina.

"OH GOD!!" she exclaimed. "NOT AGAIN!!"

Desperately, Lara bucked and writhed in the grip of the horrid creatures,
trying to avoid her second rape of an already awful day. Her head whipped
from side to side, her long braidedponytail lashing about as she cried out
and did all she could to stave off yet another sexual assault, this time
by undead monsters.

But she was weakened, and her assailants too numerous for her to resist.
One of the mummies pressed his hand down on her belly, holding her still.
Lara felt the hot, hard prick touch her labia and shuddered; a cry of despair
escaped her lips as the mummy's cock entered her. The Tomb Raider's pussy
was still raw from the earlier assault, and she groaned in pain as she was
violated by the creature.

The mummy's cock penetrated her deeply. The other creatures groped at her
breasts and legs while the one inside her began to thrust his bandaged hips
against Lara's. One of the mummies bent forward and pressed his mouth against
the peak of


her breast. He took her nipple into his mouth and licked his
tongue around it, then bit down, not hard enough to break the skin, but enough
to make Lara cry out sharply at the pain.

"EH-HEH-HEH-HEH!!" the mummy chortled as it raised its head from her breast.

"RRUHH!! RRUHH!! RUHH!!" the creature violating Lara grunted as it rock its
hips back and forth, driving its hard cock in and out of the Englishwoman's
spread pussy.

"UHH!! UHH!! UHH!!" Lara exclaimed in response to each harsh thrust. "OH
GOD...STOP!! AAHHHHH!!" she cried, but the creatures only growled
enthusiastically in response. What have I done to deserve this hell?
Lara wondered in despair.

"URRHH!! URRHH!! URRHH!! Urrrrhhhh...HHUUUURRRHHHH!!!" the mummy growled
as it came, its back arching and its gauze-wrapped head falling back.

Lara felt its hot seed spilling inside her womb andgave a dejected cry.
"AAAAHHHHH!!!" she shrieked as the creature's unholy spunk sprayed inside
her. Lara took a rasping breath as the creature pulled its cock out of her.
She lay on the cold floor of the tomb, still held spread-eagle by the other
mummies, and prayed that her ordeal was over. But it was only just beginning.

Lara moaned in despair as she saw the
mummies shift position. The one who had just raped her shifted up to her
head, where it held her arms down with its hands. She looked up and could
see its cock, still slightly erect and glistening in the torch light. She
grimaced and turned her face away from the sight.

Another mummy now moved between Lara's long, shapely legs. Its rough, bandaged
hands took hold of her thighs and spread them apart.


She closed her eyes
and shook her head, an attempt to both plead with her assailants and to deny
that this nightmare was happening to her.

"HRRRAAAHHH!!" the mummy growled as it thrust its thick member into Lara's
spread pussy.

"YAAAAHHHH!! Oh God NO..." Lara cried out as she was violated yet again.

The mummy began to fuck her in earnest, slamming his cock into her pussy
again and again, each thrust earning a yelp or a grunt from the helpless
beauty. Her large breasts shook up and down on her chest as each plunge of
the creature's cock rocked her voluptuous frame. Lara's large, sloshing tits
soon attracted the attention of the other mummies, and within seconds they
were squeezing and groping them, pinching the tender nipples until they grew
erect and Lara groaned at the sensation.

"Huh...huh...huh...huh...huh..." the beautifularcheologist grunted weakly
in response to each harsh thrust of the mummy's huge cock. Surely, she thought,
this had to stop at some point. It had to end, sometime! But then
a horrifying thought occurred to her: if her rapists were the immortal
undead...couldn't they simply keep it up forever? Would they keep raping
her for eternity? Or until she died? She made a desperate, silent prayer
that it was not so...she could barely imagine lasting the next few minutes,
let alone months or years with these horrific molesters!

"HRRMM...HRRMM...HRRMM...HRRMM..." the mummy moaned as it approached climax.
Lara could feel the creature's bandaged body growing taut in anticipation
of its impending orgasm. She braced herself for the horrid, sickly sensation
of more monster seed infecting her unprotected womb. Yet another terrible
idea entered her mind: were they trying to make


her pregnant?! If so, what
sort of horrific abomination would she give birth to?! Her eyes opened wide
at the thought. She shook her head violently.

"NO!! GET IT OUT OF ME!!" she shrieked. She arched her back and writhed her
body in yet another futile attempt to break free of her attackers, but they
held her firm and the mummy continued to pound her ravaged pussy.

"HRRAAHH!! HRRAAHH!! HRRAAHH!!" the mummy called out as it neared orgasm.
"HHRRRRRRAAAHHH!!! HHRRRMMMM!!" It groaned as it came.

"NOOOOOO!!!" Lara screamed as the creature's hot cum gushed into her uterus.
She felt burning tears forming in her eyes, but forced them away. I'm
not some helpless little bint! she told herself. I'm a British noblewoman!
I'm a legend in the archeological community! I'm a warrior woman! I'm not
a plaything for rejects froma Hollywood horror movie...

The
creature inside her gave a satisfied groan is it pulled its cock from her
pussy while Lara struggled ineffectually. The mummies shifted position yet
again. Suddenly, the creatures lifted her from the floor, holding her between
them waist-high. Yet another one of the creatures stepped between Lara's
spread legs and positioned his member at her aching pussy lips. The Tomb
Raider moaned in despair. Then she cried out in pain and shock when another
mummy grabbed her braided ponytail and yanked it downwards, forcing her head
back. At that very moment, the creature stepped forward and forced its erect
cock into Lara's open mouth.

"GGGGMMMPPHH!!" she cried out in surprise and disgust as the mummy's huge
cock was forced past her lips and teeth and deep into her throat.

"MPPPHHH!!" Lara squealed around the cock in


her mouth as she felt yet another
mummy take a firm hold on one of her breasts. The creature rubbed its hot
cock against her tit, and she could also feel its gauze-covered hand on its
cock, jerking up and down. She realized the creature intended to masturbate
and spray its cum all over her tits as if to mark her in the most primitive
and obscene manner possible. With one cock thumping away in her pussy, and
another raping her mouth, and with the mummies keeping an iron grip on her
limbs, Lara Croft could do nothing to prevent the degradation of her toned,
curvaceous body.

"MMMPHH!! MMMPHH!! MMMPHH!!" Lara grunted around the huge member that filled
her mouth and throat as another cock slammed repeatedly into her defenseless
vagina. Rough, bandaged hands groped her large breasts, squeezingthe tender
flesh, pinching the sensitive nipples. Lara could only twitch and shudder
in response to the horrific sexual assault. Her ripe body shook as each harsh
thrust either end slammed into her. The cock in her mouth kept blocking Lara's
windpipe; the lack of oxygen began to make her dizzy. Lara's eyelids began
to flutter, and she began to nurse a woozy hope that she would pass out.

Before that could happen, the mummy pulled his cock out of Lara's mouth with
a throaty groan. The creature wrapped one bandaged hand around his prick
and jerked off. Inside of a second, he came.

"RUHH!! RUHH!! RRRRRUUUUHHHH!!" the creature jerking off over Lara's tits
moaned as he, too, climaxed. Lara suppressed a sob of humiliation as the
mummy's spunk splashed on her magnificent, quivering breasts.

"UHH!! UHH!! UHH!!" the third


creature, now pumping his hips furiously against
the helpless Englishwoman's loins, grunted as he, too, approached climax.
Sensing his release, he pulled his tool from Lara's pussy and grabbed it
with one hand, spraying his cum onto her chest and stomach. "NNNUUUUHHHH!!"
the creature moaned as it came.

"EH-HEH-HEH-HEH!!!" the mummies chortled together as they reached out and
spread their sticky cum over Lara's pale skin. They made certain they spread
their vile ejaculate over Lara's large, beautiful breasts, harshly groping
the magnificent globes as they did so. Lara could do nothing other than moan
in despair.

"UNGFF!!" Lara grunted as the mummies unceremoniously dropped her to the
ground. She rolled onto her stomach and tried to scramble away, but was too
exhausted and slow. Gauze-wrapped hands quickly latched on to her limbs,
holding her arms and legs still as wellas stretching them apart. A strong
hand latched onto Lara's long, braided pony-tail and held it fast. Another
mummy knelt down between the Tomb Raider's spread legs and laid his bandaged
hands on her slender hips. He lifted Lara's ripe bottom up, assisted by his
comrades.

Lara groaned softly as she anticipated yet another humiliating rape. Her
ravaged pussy felt like it was on fire. Then her brown eyes went wide and
her body stiffened as she felt the creature's hands spreading her ass cheeks
apart. Lara gasped in horror when she felt the tip of the monster's prick
poking at her tight, puckered anus.

"N-NO!!" she exclaimed in alarm. "YOU CAN'T!! NOT THERE!! NOOOOOOOOOO!!"
She squirmed in the mummies' grip, but could not escape them, nor her loathsome
fate.

"RRRAAAAHHHH!!" the creature behind her groaned as his phallus slowly pressed
into


Lara's ass.

"UNNNHHHH!!" the beautiful Tomb Raider moaned hoarsely as the horrific monster
sodomized her. She tried desperately to escape her inhuman assailants, but
they were too many, and too strong. Hot tears burned their way down her cheeks
as the mummy pushed its cock deeper into her rectum. "OH GOD!!" Lara exclaimed,
"IT HURTS!! STOP!!" But the creature did not stop, did not waver--it only
made a deep chuckling sound as it raped her ass.

"NUHHHH!! NUHHHH!! NUHHHH!!" the mummy grunted as it ground its hips against
Lara's curvaceous bottom. Its gauze-covered hands kept her ripe ass cheeks
spread, occasionally giving the sensitive flesh a rough squeeze as it thrust
its cock in between them.

"UNHH! UNHH! UNHH!" Lara cried with each plunge of the horrid creature's
huge cock into her rectum. She squeezed her eyes shut, ground herteeth,
and tried to block out the pain. Her body began to tremble in the grip of
her tormentors. Her huge breasts slapped against her rib cage as the mummy's
thrusts became faster and harder. She felt the mummy's body stiffening and
knew that the monster would climax soon. She was right.

"NUH...NUH...NUH...NNNNNUUUHHHH!!" the mummy groaned triumphantly as it came
inside the Tomb Raider's ass.

"NOOOOO!!" Lara shrieked as she felt the mummy's hot jism inside her ravaged
ass. "Oh God no..." It was too much, the physical assault, the humiliation...her
eyelids fluttered, she grew dizzy, and she wondered if she was about to pass
out.

Then the mummy yanked his member from her behind, and the pain brought Lara
back to reality. Suddenly, her captors released her. One laid a heavy hand
on her back and unceremoniously pushed her to


the ground. The Tomb Raider
lay there, panting raggedly, her body exhausted, her skin covered with sweat
and the inhuman spunk of the mummies. Her eyes, heavy-lidded, stared glassily
at a spot on the stone wall. She did not move. She saw no way to escape her
fate, and awaited the monsters' next assault.

Lara did not think that anything the mummies could do at this point could
surprise her. She was wrong.

"UNNNNHHhhhh..." one of the mummies groaned. "Oh, man...she was the
best yet!"

Lara's dark brown eyes flew open. What the bleeding hell...?

"No shit, bro!" another one said. "And she spoke English! Bonus!"

Lara's amazement grew as she heard the mummies also speaking English.
Modern English. With American accents! She turned her head
to look over her naked shoulder at the mummies, who were pushing themselves
to their feetand standing over her. Several of them started exchanging high
fives. Others were awkwardly pushing their cocks back into the gauzy wrapping
around their bodies--which, now that Lara had a moment to study it, looked
like brand new hospital gauze rather than ancient mummifying cloth.

Lara Croft had thought she couldn't sink any lower than to be raped by a
cadre of mummies, but she'd been wrong. She'd been raped by a bunch of men
dressed up as mummies. A bunch of American men. It could only
have been worse if they'd been French.

"Gotta give ol' Rameses credit," a mummy said, looking down at the ravaged
archeologist's prone form. "He might be nuts, but he knows how to pick the
ladies."

The mummy, standing above Lara's head, reached down and grabbed one of her
naked shoulders. He flipped the


Tomb Raider onto her back, intending to get
another look at her impressive chest. Lara had other ideas, however. Anger
flooded her abused body with adrenaline. Her dark brown eyes blazed with
fury. Her luscious lips pulled back into a furious grimace. She swung her
right leg up and over her head, striking the ersatz mummy who'd flipped her
over between the eyes. The man fell backwards, struck the back of his head
against the stone slab in the middle of the room, and fell unconscious.

The other phony mummies stared at the attack on their comrade in shock. Before
they could react, the furious Tomb Raider bent her legs, drew them up to
her chin, then threw them forward. She used the momentum to flip her body
to its feet. Kneeling, she supported her weight on onefoot as she swung
the other, catching a mummy behind the legs. The man's arms flailed as he
fell onto his back. Lara viciously drove her elbow into the man's temple,
rendering him insensible.

"Jesus!" one of the mummies cried. "Stop her before..."

But Lara, fired by pure fury, attacked before the man could give any orders.
She swung her arm forward, her fist catching the man in the gonads. His knees
buckled, and he dropped, groaning, to the ground. The three remaining fake
mummies launched themselves at Lara, but she moved like a leopard. She sprang
and rolled away from their attack; two of the mummies collided, their heads
smashing together, and the two men fell to the ground, unconscious. As the
final mummy pushed himself awkwardly to his feet, Lara advanced upon him.
He backed away in fear.

"Shut


the hell up," Lara snarled. She feinted a high blow with her right,
then jabbed at the man's kidney with her left. As her blow connected, the
man moaned in pain and fell to his knees. Lara swung her right leg and clipped
him with her heavy hiking boot, sending him to la-la land for an extended
visit.

Having taken down her attackers, Lara
Croft--clad only in a few ragged remnants of her tank top and shorts--strode
over to her backpack, opened it, and retrieved one of her pistols. She then
marched back to the only conscious mummy, the one she'd nearly castrated,
and grabbed several strips of the gauze around his chest. She hauled him
to his feet and pushed him down on top of the large stone slab, then pointed
the loaded .45 automatic at his bruiseddown there," the man said, licking his lips nervously.
"I'd h-hate for you to get l-lost..."

"I'm quite experienced at that sort of thing. But I appreciate your concern."
Lara smiled at the man, who smiled back. He was still wearing that dopey
grin even after she drew her gun hand back and piston-whipped him; it remained
on his face as he fell back onto the slab, out cold.

Impatient to escape the tomb where she'd been so horribly assaulted, Lara
retrieved her backpack and didn't even bother to put her last set of clothes
on. She just wanted out. She slid the stone across the floor, revealing the
entrance to a dark hole. She turned on her electric torch and pointed it
down the hole. A few feet below, she saw the floor of a tunnel. The


Tomb
Raider deftly jumped down. She landed on her feet and shone her torch around
her. She was in a passageway that led off in two opposite directions, both
stretching off into distant darkness. Lara licked her index finger and held
it up. She felt a soft breeze coming from her right, indicating a source
of fresh air--an exit. She nodded, slung her backpack over her shoulder,
and marched off in that direction.

The passageway began to twist and turn, then branch off in several directions;
Lara began to understand what the man had meant when he called it a labyrinth.
Nonetheless, Lara Croft had navigated trickier mazes, and she confidently
strode through this one. Her naked breasts bounced as she walked. Lara hoped
to encounter an underground stream or pool along the way so she could wash
off thedisgusting evidence of her assault, which still stuck to her skin.
For that reason--and because of how livid she still felt--she had still not
bothered to clothe herself.

Lara took a turn down yet another branching passageway when she heard a sound
coming from behind her. She turned around and shone her torch into the gloom,
but saw nothing. She shrugged and pressed on, but stopped abruptly when she
heard the sound again. It sounded like a shuffling, scraping noise--like
someone walking, but with a limp. Lara drew her gun. With the torch in one
hand and the gun in the other, Lara slowly turned around in a circle, her
eyes searching the darkness for some sign of another person.

"Who's there?" she called out. "I'm warning you, I'm armed, and I'm right
pissed off." She heard the shuffling


gait again. It seemed to be getting
closer. "If you're another one of those bloody Yanks dressed up for Halloween,
I should warn you, I've already kicked your friends' collective arse. I'd
scamper if I were you." Still the shuffling noise grew nearer. It seemed
to be coming from one dark passageway. Lara pointed her torch and her gun
towards it. "Look, I'm warning you..."

Just then, a dark figure emerged from the passageway. It was wrapped head
to foot in heavy gauze, the cloth gray, ragged, and stained. It looked much
more authentic than the other fake mummies Lara had encountered in the tomb.
Clearly, Lara deduced, this was a perfectionist whose obsession with his
costume had made him late for the party.

"Look, mate," she spat at him, "I've had about enough of you lot for one
day.You want to catch an eyeful, fine. Do it and shove off before I perforate
you."

"RRRAAARRGGHH!!" the figure before her growled. It took a step towards her.

"All right, back off, Boris Karloff!" Lara shouted. She pointed the gun at
the man's leg. "Get away from me! This is your final warning!"

"RRRUUURRHHH!!" the man snarled, his bandaged arms waving about. He took
another lurching step towards Lara.

"All right, have it your way," Lara said.

She squeezed the trigger of her pistol. The shot echoed in the narrow stone
cavern. The bullet hit the man's thigh cleanly; he staggered to a stop and
looked down at his leg. Lara frowned when she saw no blood, only a cloud
of dust around the wound.

"GGGGRRRRAAAHHH!!" the man roared angrily. He took another step towards Lara,
who began to slowly back


away. Less than five yards separated them.
Her gut clenched; something wasn't right here. She pointed the pistol at
the man's chest.

"STOP!!" she shouted. "My next shot will be to kill!! Back off NOW!!"

"RRRRAAAHHH!!" the man growled, waving his arms threateningly and advancing
on her.

Lara clenched her teeth and squeezed off two more rounds, one straight into
the heart, the other into the kidney--both sure kill shots, especially at
this range. The man staggered again; dust erupted from his torso. He looked
down at his chest in puzzlement. Then his head lifted and Lara saw his eyes.
Or rather, she didn't see his eyes, but rather saw two black pits in his
head where his eyes should have been. His toothless mouth opened and he roared
angrily.

"GRRRRAAAHHH!!" the mummy shouted, and the unearthly timbre of the creature's
voicemade Lara's blood run cold. On his breath, she could smell the dry,
musky scent of ancient rot and decay. Now that he was closer, she could also
see the barely-concealed, desiccated remnants of his flesh and bones beneath
the hoary wrappings that hung from them.

"Oh, bloody hell," Lara Croft muttered.

Part 3: The Mummy

Shots echoed in the underground chamber as Lara Croft emptied her .45 into
the creature standing before her. As before, the slugs did little more than
make dust erupt from the tattered fabric around the mummy's decomposed body.
And make the creature angrier.

"RRAAARRGGHHH!!" it roared furiously. It advanced upon the Tomb Raider as
though the bullets that had been emptied into its body and point-blank range
were little more than bee stings. Its arms reached out towards Lara, the
blackened hands curled like the


talons of some horrific bird of prey.

Lara's every instinct told her to run, and she obeyed. She turned and launched
herself back down the tunnel, but lurched to a sudden stop. Her torch and
her gun both flew from her hand. The mummy had grabbed her backpack! She
threw her arms back and wriggled out of it, desperate to get away. She felt
a cold, bony hand touch the side of her naked breast, and the mummy's huge
erect cock suddenly pressed against her naked behind. The sensations gave
her the panicked impetus to get away. She shook herself out of the backpack's
straps and ran down the tunnel, away from the creature who growled angrily
and shuffled after her.

Lara stretched out her hands in front of her; she'd lost her electric torch,
and the underground passagewayswere pitch black. She had to feel her way
in the dark, and it slowed her down, which was not good. She could hear the
mummy behind her, its bandaged feet scraping on the sand-strewn stone floor,
its breathing heavy and guttural. It was gaining on her.

Lara groped her way around a corner and thought she saw a dim light ahead.
She made her way towards it. She could feel the ground sloping upwards beneath
her feet and hoped the passageway led to an exit from this labyrinth of horror.
The whole time, she could hear the undead creature pursuing her.

Lara went through a stone entranceway and emerged into another underground
chamber. This one had a roof several feet high; thin, narrow slits in between
the stones that made up the ceiling allowed some faint light


to penetrate
the chamber. Lara could not see an exit, and knew she was still several feet
underground. The chamber had three other exits. Lara chose one at random
and ran into it, hoping to lose the creature so she could get away.

The beautiful Englishwoman entered another large, dark chamber. It seemed
to be yet another tomb of some kind, but she couldn't be certain. Even the
brief exposure to the filtered daylight had ruined her night vision, and
she found herself groping along in the dark once again. Lara backed herself
into a crevice and forced herself to become as silent as possible. She listened
carefully and heard the mummy shuffle into the chamber she'd just left.

Choose one of the other passages, you raggy bugger, she thought
desperately. She could just make out the dark silhouetteof the mummy as
it glanced into the chamber where Lara had hidden herself. The Tomb Raider
held her breath. Then she heard the creature give a low, frustrated growl.
It moved away, and she heard it shuffle down one of the other tunnels.

Lara Croft breathed a silent sigh of relief. She paused a moment; her
sweat-covered naked body involuntarily shivered in the dank coolness of the
tomb. Got to get out of here, she thought. She stepped silently out
of her crevice and crept towards what she hoped was an exit from the dark
tomb.

Lara's boot suddenly caught on something.
She gasped as she tripped and lost her balance. She swung her other leg forward.
It plunged into a shallow pool of water with a loud splash. Lara's leg bent
and her knee smacked painfully into the


stone edge of the pool, where her
other leg was immersed up to the knee. Lara cursed her bad luck silently.
Her hand reached out towards the object that had tripped her, which turned
out to be a small statue of a jackal.

"Typical," she muttered. "Treacherous little vermin..."

Lara gasped as she heard the mummy's shuffling gait drawing near her, evidently
lured by the noise she'd made. She looked up and could just make out the
creature's horrific silhouette in the entrance to the tomb. She looked around
but couldn't see another exit in the dark.

The mummy began to shuffle into the dark tomb, now certain that its prey
was there. Lara reached out and tried to lift the statue, thinking she could
use it as a weapon, but it had a large stone base and wastoo heavy. She
looked up and saw that the mummy was barely five yards away from her.

Lara Croft mustered her courage and pushed herself out of the shallow pool.
She launched herself at the mummy with a wild battle cry. Her booted foot
lashed out at the creature's privates. The mummy, however, moved with a quickness
that surprised her, as she'd seen no evidence of it at that point. The monster
caught her foot before it could make impact, then gripped Lara's ankle with
both hands. The mummy threw Lara's leg up before she could react; the force
flipped her body over, and the Tomb Raider found herself spinning end over
end. Her body hit the stone floor, her chest impacting with a loud
smack. The impact knocked the wind out of her.

Lara tried to recover, but


before she could, the creature was upon her. It
reached down, grabbed hold of her long, braided ponytail, and used it to
lift Lara's head up. The mummy then used its other hand to viciously backhand
Lara.

WHAPP!!

"UNHH!!" the archeologist grunted as the powerful blow spun her head and
stunned her. The creature kept its grip on Lara's ponytail and slapped her
across the face again.

SMACK!!

"UNGH!!" Lara cried out as her head twisted suddenly to the other side. Stars
danced in her vision. Her arms flailed uselessly in front of her, trying
to block the creature's blows. She could taste the metallic sting of blood
in her mouth. "Oh God..." she murmurred helplessly.

WHACK!!

"Unhhh..." Lara moaned as yet another blow across her face brought her to
the brink of unconsciousness. Her arms fell and hung limply from her naked
shoulders.Her eyelids fluttered. Her dark brown eyes rolled up into her
head.

The creature pulled its arm back to deliver yet another slap to Lara's beautiful
face, but paused. It watched as its prey went completely limp. The mummy
used Lara's braid to shake her body violently, but the Tomb Raider did not
respond; her arms shook lifelessly, and her breasts jiggled from her chest,
but aside from drawing shallow, ragged breaths, she showed no sign of life
at all.

The mummy grunted in satisfaction and lifted Lara by her ponytail. It threw
her limp, naked body over one shoulder, then shuffled back down the dark
passageways of the vast underground labyrinth.

Lara Croft painfully lifted her head from where it hung over her chest. She
groaned softly as consciousness returned. With it, pain returned as well.
Her face felt sore


from the harsh backhands the mummy had delivered to knock
her out; Lara opened her jaw and worked it from side to side. Then she noticed
the pain in her shoulders and upper back. That forced Lara to open her eyes
and look up.

Not for the first time that day, her arms were bound. Her wrists were tied
by what appeared to be the burial mappings of the mummy that had captured
her; she glanced down and noticed her ankles were similarly bound. Each limb
was pulled in an opposite direction, forcing her naked body into a spread-eagled
position.

Lara woozily glanced around, taking in her surroundings. She seemed to be
in yet another underground chamber, lit by a couple of sputtering torches.
In front of her was a stone wall covered with hieroglyphics. She glanced
behind her andsaw the entrance to the chamber, which led to a dark passageway.
The bindings on her arms were tied to a stone ceiling beam above her head,
while her ankles were tied to two low but heavy stones on the floor. She
pulled on her bonds, certain that the ancient strips of fabric would easily
give way, but found that they instead held her quite fast and quite helpless.

"Right," Lara muttered dejectedly, "bloody fantastic. What next?"

Almost on cue, Lara heard a shuffling
sound coming from behind her. She turned and gasped when she saw the mummy
that had captured her in the chamber's entrance.

"HRRRRMMM..." the creature growled at the sight of Lara's bound, helpless,
and naked body. Lara's dark eyes glanced down and widened in horror when
she was the huge bulge stirring in the tattered


wrappings that covered the
monster's loins.

"Oh, God, no, not again..." Lara breathed as the mummy shuffled towards her.
Her body began to tremble as she realized she was about to be raped yet again,
this time by a real monster. She looked forward, tearing her eyes away from
the mummy, as her heart began to pound in her chest.

Lara gave a yelp when she felt the mummy's cold, bony hand graze against
her behind. She would have jumped if her bonds hadn't prevented her. She
felt the mummy's hands squeezing her bottom and ground her teeth.

"Christ, doesn't anyone buy a girl a drink first anymore?!?"

The creature kept one hand on her bottom while the other reached forward
and gripped one of the English beauty's large breasts. It pressed its hips
forward, and Lara felt the monster'shuge cock pressing against her behind.

"Noooooo..." Lara moaned as the mummy squeezed her breast and pinched its
nipple between two bony fingers. She could smell the creature's fetid breath
on her cheek and fought down the urge to vomit. The mummy began to grind
its cock against Lara's ass, which did nothing to alleviate her nausea.

Suddenly, Lara heard the creature speak. Its voice was raspy and dry, like
sand blowing across stone. She couldn't make out the words at first. She
listened more closely and realized the mummy was speaking ancient Egyptian,
which was no real surprise. It was a dead language, and while Lara had mastered
several tongues both ancient and modern, she had trouble understanding it.
She soon discerned a rhythm and repetition to the sounds, however, and deduced
that the creature was reciting some