Sahara Desert

1918

Twenty-four year old field doctor from London, England; Elizabeth Bender-Whitmore had entered the war in 1914, bright-eyed and bushy tailed in the beginning. But now the war was over, finally after four years of fighting, blood, carnage, and confusion it had ended on a dry and smoldering evening in Ghana for Elizabeth. And now she was nothing if not exhausted.

The day the war had ended Elizabeth remembered the men and the nurses cheering and hugging one another all around her. Kisses and laughter filled the air in the tents as she watched idly by, celebrating internally for herself.

Of course Elizabeth was happy as well, why wouldn't she be? No more death, no more bodies for her to mend, to piece back together—but she would miss this land, Africa—Egypt and the desert most of all.

The desert to her was cleansing, calming. She felt as though she had truly found herself here with the sand in her shoes, the sun beating down, tanning her skin—educating her on a heat she never knew existed. The air was palpable and true. In England, the air was dull and wet almost all of the time. Muted and lifeless. All emotion washed away by the constant precipitation.

All throughout medical school in Cambridge Elizabeth dreamed of leaving and using her skills where they would be needed and respected. Not that she had wanted a war to sprout between several countries, but she would be daft to say she wasn't excited when she volunteered after graduation and the Royal Military sent her off to Africa with the 106th Division. She had learned more in the front lines of war than she had her entire academic career. Something she was not surprised by but thankful nonetheless. And now she was in a position to bring that surgical knowledge and experience back with her to England.

But how on earth could she begin to explain her experience here? It was hell, pure hell. But some how in all this she found herself, plus heartache and loss like she had never known.

Elizabeth's father, Earnest Whitmore—a veteran himself, often told her war was child's play and we were all pawns in it. That it was all merely a game and you just had to play it right. But she figured he'd never been in a war of quite this magnitude and that sentiment alone underestimated the lengths at which man would go to conquer. Lengths she wore in the form of shrapnel scares on her back, blocking debris from her patients as she operated, jutting bones and severe weight loss from offering her rations to wounded soldiers. Wounds she wasn't expecting to bare physically, in addition to mental wounds she feared would never heal.

The thought alone was enough to heave a heavy sigh from deep within her stomach. Even now, wandering aimlessly through the desert, she did not know when she would return to England but the thought still plagued her.

Walking beside Elizabeth was her young assistant Archie, from Wales. He looked over at her sigh and narrowed his brow but chose to ignore it based on apathy and exhaustion.

Elizabeth continued to look out into the dark horizon, the glistening stars, and wondered what will become of her. Abandoned in the desert.

That evening, when word of the end had arrived in West Africa, the German general had issued a final surprise attack on the Americans and invaded the base of the celebrating, unguarded 106th. Hundreds of British troops were slaughtered and bombed, while others tried their best to fight back.

Elizabeth and Archie barely got out with their lives, watching each others backs as the sounds of gun shots were mute to the ear with each step further away. They walked through the night into the morning, Elizabeth knew they had to make it to Cairo no matter how far. They would be safe in Cairo and could share word of the surprise attack with the right people.

But as the sun dwindled down she felt tired, hungry and thirsty. It was weighing on her stamina. There was nothing but desert ahead of them, only the sun as their guide. The two had managed to pack up and bring along most of the medical equipment, or at least what they could stand to carry on their backs. A lot of good syringes and gauze does to hunger and dehydration, Elizabeth laughed to herself.

"What you laughin' at, you nutter?" Archie looked at her like she was crazy.

"I was just thinking a lot good this medical equipment will do if we starve to death." Elizabeth chuckled again and Archie just shook his head.

"Unbelievably morbid, you are." He mumbled to himself and continued walking. They could just see the tip top of the sun above the horizon at this point, a full day now they'd been walking and found nothing. Just barren desert.

Elizabeth watched the horizon still as Archie paused for a breath in the sand.

This land was so beautiful, she thought to herself. Over and over again this thought invaded her mind. And it truly kept her sane. Looking out into the vast sand dunes, watching the top layer twist around in the wind, she felt whole.

The sun was slowly rising as she stood still to watch it. A yawn escaped her and briefly her eyes shut. When they opened, however, Elizabeth noticed something far in the distance she had not noticed before.

Suddenly the land began to shift, a hazy mist came over everything and out of nothing— stone formations began to appear.

"Archie?" Elizabeth questioned, staring off into the glowing magical distance.

Archie had his eyes closed as he leaned back against his pack. "Hmm?"

"Archie get up." She commanded softly. The lazy nurse suddenly opened his eyes, he looked at her for a moment then shifted his gaze to the direction she faced. Slowly he stood, eyes nearly bulging out of his head.

"Say, that wasn't there just a moment ago was it?"

"It—it had to've been there, we just mustn't have seen it…" Slowly Elizabeth began to walk toward it, transfixed. Archie fumbled as he stood.

"Doctor…" he slipped his pack on and rushed to meet up with her. "Doctor Whitmore, do you think that's the brightest idea? We should just keep going North toward Cairo."

Archie continued to call after her but she was drawn to the space, the structures. It looked like a metropolis at some point. The ruins of a once ornate city. Large statues of Egyptian gods, hieroglyphics on the walls and columns.

"Archie can you believe this place?" Elizabeth asked, wandering around a large statue of Anubis—she believed was the correct name. The sun was now harsh and a deep red as it cast shadows over the entire city.

"Can we leave, Doctor Whitmore? This place gives me the heebies." Archie shuddered as he watched her walk around in awe.

"This is incredible. I wonder why it's abandoned…it seems like this place should be full of archeologist and explore—oh…" Elizabeth paused mid sentence.

Archie narrowed his brow and walked behind the statue and was confronted by six men holding guns toward Elizabeth.

"What the—"

"Archie." She commanded, in a tone he knew only from the front—when she was adamant that he hear her and he hear her well. Archie slowly put his arms up, mirroring Elizabeth as one of the men began to speak in Arabic.

Elizabeth struggled to understand what the man was saying; outside of the thick black robes they all wore, matching face tattoos she was wholeheartedly overwhelmed. The man spoke so fast and the only words she could make out were "death" and something about "hams"? No, that couldn't be right, she thought. The man continued, edging closer to them. Elizabeth had to think of a quick way out of this.

"Please, please we are merely traveling to Cairo. We mean you no harm, I promise!" She pleaded calmly but adamantly. "We're from the British Army."

The men raised the guns higher at those words and she backed up, bumping into Archie.

"Elizabeth they think we're soldiers."

"No no, please, I'm a doctor. We have no weapons." Elizabeth thought hard and thought it couldn't hurt to try to speak Arabic, though she was terrible she knew one word down exactly, she slowly pressed her palm to her chest and said, "Doctor."

Suddenly the men halted and lowered their weapons. The man in the middle repeated the word back to her in a question. She nodded and elbowed Archie who in turned nodded vigorously.

Then a word from the man's mouth caught her off guard, and gave her a jolt in the pit of her stomach. A jolt of electricity.

"Help."

"You, you need help? Yes, I can help you. Yes." She nodded anxiously and one of the men grabbed her and Archie by the arms and led them behind a large structure to a line of horses.

"My god, Doctor Whitmore, what have you gotten us into?" Archie questioned as they were led back in the direction they came from.