Carlos and Annabeth
Mission in the Gobi
The International School of Macao, Jessica Chen, Fiction: Group 2
I
t was a sunny Sunday morning, when a sharp telephone ring cut through the silence in the
two archaeologists’ house. A young woman groaned and moaned as she came out of her
bedroom to answer the phone. “Hello!” She heard a man’s voice at the other end of the line.
“I am calling from the Museum of Mysteries. We were wondering if you and your partner
would like to help us find some dinosaur egg fossils in the Gobi for a dinosaur exhibit. If you can
complete this task in a month, you will be awarded $1,500,000,000 in cash,” said the owner of the
museum with a convincing tone.
“Sure!” replied the woman, Annabeth. They discussed the details for a while and then hung up
the phone.
Although young, Annabeth was a renowned archeologist. She and her partner Carlos were
both famous for digging up a number of dinosaurs fossils in America. They had once before found
dinosaurs bones in the Gobi, too, so they knew it would be harsh and adventurous.
Less than a week later, the two were ready to get on the private plane chartered for them
by the Museum of Mysteries. On the flight, Carlos was sleeping peacefully while Annabeth was
studying a map of the Gobi. Suddenly, the plane shuddered and began to lose altitude! With
a tremendous boom, it crashed into the soft sand. Minutes later, Annabeth woke up in such
confusion that she believed she was having a nightmare. With great effort, she steadied herself
and realized what had just happened.
She frantically shook Carlos until he came to, wide-eyed and bewildered. They quickly
gathered what was left of their things, grabbed some food and a couple of bottles of water and
followed the pilot who instructed them to run as far away from the wreckage as they could. Just
a few seconds later, KABOOM! The plane vanished into a puff of black smoke. Fortunately, the
compass they managed to grab before fleeing the plane would help them find the part of Gobi
where they had been instructed to look for the dinosaur eggs. As they were walking, a strong
wind began to blow. “A sandstorm is coming!” yelled Annabeth. “Duck under the sand dunes, and
cover your head with clothing!”
Three and a half hours later they were all covered in sand. Annabeth was the first to stand
up. She went to find the others. Since it was getting dark, they decided to stop and put up their
tents. Exhausted by the sandstorm, they ate some dry crackers and took small sips of water
while planning what to do the next day. All of them fell asleep quickly. The sounds of animals
scurrying out of their dens into the dark to find food kept interrupting their sleep. Just before
dawn, while the sky was still dark and the weather was freezing, a loud shriek resounded in the
night. Annabeth crawled out of her warm sleeping bag to find out what was happening. She was
surprised to see that a desert tarantula had bitten Jason. His left arm was changing color and
swelling fast. Annabeth told Jason not to panic because desert tarantulas were not poisonous. She
wrapped a bandage around his numb hand, and went back to sleep.
They woke up ready to continue their trek through the desert. They had been walking for a
couple of hours, when Annabeth began to feel dizzy and hot. She started to hallucinate, thinking
