Zach knocked his head against the sand dusted frame of the jeep, jolting awake while both the seats and windows shook with every small bump in the ragged sand dunes, jostling all the passengers back and forth.

"Why the hell did I agree to come with you to this godforsaken place," Lloyd grumbled under his breath as he tried to steady himself in his seat.

Zach shot him a guilty but thankful smile before he whipped the beads of sweat from his forehead. The stiff, dry desert air made his clothing overwhelmingly hot and sticky, even while sitting in the shadow. He seriously started to doubt that he could excavate anything out here, where the sun's never-ending rays will beat down on him mercilessly. But still, this was the opportunity of a lifetime.

"It's not every day that you can be a part of the excavation at Mons Porphyrites." Zach remarked. "Who knows, maybe we'll be famous archaeologists by the end of it."

Lloyd rolled his eyes, "Dream on. We first have to graduate. Which reminds me, we could now be writing our theses while enjoying a nice, refreshing ice coffee."

"So, you would rather spend your summer working on a boring thesis than exploring one of Egypt's most fascinating Ancient Roman quarries with me?"

"Most fascination, according to you," Lloyd clarified. It takes a second or two for the new information to sink it, but Zach still couldn't process Lloyd's reasoning. "Mons Porphyrites was in Ancient Rome the only known source of porphyry. Which was prized for sculptures, monolithic columns and other architectural elements in Roman and Byzantine times."

His friend scoffed in response, "the emperors liked some rare shiny rock. Shocking!"

"I thought you said that you owed me for that Palaeolithic summer camp last year." Zach mumbled deflated.

"Of course, man," Lloyd grunted, "the heat is just making me a bit cranky, that's all."

"Understandable. I'm still glad you're here." Zach concluded with a smile so bright that Lloyd couldn't help but smile back as he mumbled, "that's what are friends for."

The car stopped abruptly at a small campsite on the edge of the excavation site. As soon as they step out, the stiff, dry desert wind stirred up the wispy sand, and from the side of the pit, a burly man stared at them from under his wide-brimmed hat. His cowboyish gait was at odds with the gleeful smile he had as he made his way over to the two boys. "You must be the students from Washington. Nice to meet you, I'm Blake Shubert, the lead archaeologist of this excavation." He smiled like a long lost brother, shaking Zach's hand enthusiastically.

"Honoured to meet you, Mr. Shubert. I'm Zachariah Perez, and this is my friend Lloyd Koch. We are honoured to be here, sir." Zach exclaimed.

"Call me Blake," the burly man chuckled. "I must say I was a little worried about you boys when you didn't show up with your classmate, but I'm glad you are here now. There is a lot of work to be done."

"Classmate?" Lloyd inquired glancing sideways at Zach.

"Olivia," Blake responded, pointing out a redhead working at the sifting screen. Ginger locks swept across the willowy features of her pale face. Zach gazed upon the countless freckles that adorned her skin in the harsh desert sun when she glanced up from her work and caught his stare. Her emerald green eyes had a boldness in them, prompting Zach to look away in shame.

"I've never seen her in any class. You?" Lloyd asked. Zach shook his head. He would have remembered a stunning girl like her. Not that she would ever notice a plain guy like him. As they make their way past the pit, Zach stole another glance at the girl standing on the other side.

"Earth to Zach! Are you listening?" Lloyd boomed in Zach's ear. "Blake just asked which one of us wants to go sifting, since there's only place for one more person to catalogue the -."

"I'll go sifting," Zach rejoiced, only to be met with Lloyd's smirk. "You sly dog. Don't mind working in the hot sun as long as a hot girl is working next to you, aye?"

Zach could only blush as he stumbled over his words. Lloyd winked, grinning wider. "Come on, let's go introduce ourselves," he cheered, pulling Zach along towards the sifting station.

"Hi! Olivia, right? Blake told us that you're also an Archaeology student at Washington University. Too bad we've never met." Lloyd let his eyes slide over her body, adding a cheeky wink before continuing, "I'm Lloyd, and this here is Zach." Zach could only wave stiffly while he felt the awkwardness strangled him with the way Olivia's eyebrow raised suspiciously as her gaze turned hostile. Lloyd, however, simply chimed on. "What do you say we meet tonight at our tent for a drink? I'm sure we have a lot to talk about."

"No, thanks." Olivia replied.

"Why not? We'll all be here for a while. Might as well get to know each other." Lloyd insisted, placing his hand over hers. Olivia ripped her hand away, raising her head with exaggerated slowness. "I'm not here to entertain your misogynistic ass, and if you ever touch me again, I'll introduce your head to the business end of a shovel."

Lloyd could only gape like a fish on dry land before throwing his hands up in defeat and walking away.

"I'm sorry about that," Zach mumbled.

Green eyes glared back at him, "I'm not."

With a sheepish laugh that sounded more scared than anything else, Zach turned his attention to his sifting station. Throughout the day, his eyes kept drifting back to the girl beside him, no matter how hard he tried to stay focused on his work. There was just something about her that pulled him in. From the way she held herself, to that look of unassailable confidence in her eyes, she represented everything he wished he could be. And yet, there something off about the way her hands shook. Almost as if she was afraid.

He couldn't shake the thought even after they gathered around the campfire at the end of the day. Lloyd was laughing with the other guys, joking about something Zach didn't hear. His eyes were searching for flowing red hair in the crowd of people around one of the other bonfires. But he didn't find Olivia.

Her name was even the first thought as he woke up in the middle of the night. This was insane, he shouldn't be bothered by one awkward encounter. Maybe he just needed some fresh air. Zach unzipped the tent to face the blackness of a desert night. The waning moon his only light source. The air was cool, and for the first time since arriving here, Zach felt like he could finally breathe. Relishing in the peace, he took a few steps, then a few more, until he found himself looking out over an endless desert at the edge of the excavation.

That's when he heard it, a loud gasp. Turning to the sound, he came face to face with Olivia. Zach stood there, nailed to the ground, while he wished the desert sand would pick up, and swallow him whole. She must think he is some kind of creep following her in the middle of the night.

But before he could say anything, she pulled him down. "Are you crazy? They might see you?"

"Who?"

"Those men," Olivia whispered, pointing towards a few shadowy figures on the other side of the sand dune.

"Who are they?" Zach wondered out loud. With an almost condescending huff, the redhead next to him stated, "they are obviously graverobbers!"

"There aren't any graves worth robbing here. We're at a mine." Zach shot back, surprising himself with the confidence in which he said it.

"So, they must be after precious stones. Oh, I know. This is the only source of porphyry, right?" Olivia continued, with the excitement of a child that was about to go on its first great adventure.

Zach could already feel his heart raising at the thought of some strangers snooping around the camp in the middle of one of the most inhospitable places on earth. But Olivia's calmness, kept him grounded. "It was the only source of porphyry in ancient times. Nowadays, it's commonly mixed into most asphalt roads. Not very rare, nor valuable."

"Oh," Olivia's excitement dropped to an icy numbness. "Then why are they snooping around here?"

Zach followed her gaze towards where the men were busy digging. They clearly weren't here by mistake, whooping and hollering between each other as if no one could hear them. "I don't know, but we should -"

"Check it out for ourselves." Olivia dictated, burying Zach's actually thought like a mummy underneath a pyramid. "What I meant was we should get Mr.-"

"We can't let them get away!" Olivia thundered, again. "If you want to get help, fine. But I'm going to stop these guys from stealing our treasure."

Without waiting for his response, the redhead jumped over the sand dune, letting herself slide towards the positions of the strange men. Zach felt fear freezing him in place. He couldn't let her go alone, but he was terrified to follow her. He took a step forward. Perhaps he should get help, but what if he is too late. He took another step forwards. And then, by some miracle, he finds his confidence. He finds his voice. "Olivia, wait!"

With a flip of her hair, she glanced over her shoulder. A subtle smile tugging at her lips as Zach caught up to her, hiding in the shadows of the dunes. "Come to help?"

"No. I mean - yes. What is your plan?"

Taking her shovel in both hands, she responded. "whack them unconscious." Zach waited a moment for her actual plan to come, or at least a strategic addition to this idea but in vain. "How do you want to accomplish that? There are like five, maybe more guys, and two of us with only one shovel."

"Well if you have any better ideas I am all ears, mister high and mighty," she sneered.

Zach sputtered. "High and mighty? I am not the one running into an outnumbered fight with nothing but a shovel!"

"At least I am doing my own dirty work, instead of letting my sleazy friend pick up the slack."

Before Zach could even open his mouth, one of the men barked, "Who is there! Show yourself, or we'll shoot."

Hearing those words made his blood run cold, and he didn't even realize the force with which Olivia grabbed his hand as she hissed, "run."

It felt like he was in a nightmare. One, in which he could not move forward, no matter how hard he tried. His heels sank away in the loose sand when he ran up the dunes, and it wouldn't steady his feet when he ran down. His shaking hands curled into sweaty fists, swinging at his sides. In some sort of delusional hope, it would make him faster. From behind him, he could hear those men yelling in a language he didn't understand. A shot echoed in the air when Olivia shouted. "Don't stop, Zach! Keep running."

But Zach couldn't find it in him to respond. His mind can hardly fathom the fear of being chased that raised through his body. Driving his body to push far beyond its limits, making each breath burn as his lunges desperately draw in enough air to take another step. Make his muscles climb another hill. His whole body was in nothing but survival mode until the redhead falling in front of him brought everything to an abrupt halt.

Olivia lay there clutching a bleeding ankle, sand smeared across her sweaty skin and matted hair as the voice of their pursuers grew closer.

Zach's mind was spinning out of control, he had to act now. Fail, and they would both pay the price, probably with their lives. Run, and his body would most likely give out by the first misstep. Without thinking about it another second, he covered Olivia's mouth, pushing them both back into the sand. An unnatural hush descended upon the desert night, amplifying the stalking footsteps of the men. Any noise meant death at best, excruciating torture at worst. Zach held his breath, feeling his heart beat more frantically with every second that passed. Tears rolled over his hand as he turned to see Olivia shaking with fear, tears streaming from her firmly closed eyes. And for what felt like an eternity, they waited.

When at last, it was silent again, they got up. "Are you okay?" was all Zach could ask as he watched Olivia rip her sleeves to treat her wound. "I think I've been bitten by a snake. Could you suck out the venom?"

"What?"

"I said could you suck out the venom."

"Yes, I heard what you said." Zach remarked, "what I mean is how can you be so calm about being bitten by a snake?"

Olivia stared wide-eyed at him, "It won't help me if I panic. Fear had never solved anything." Her last words were spoken so quietly that if it wasn't for the silent desert night, Zach most likely would have missed them. But he didn't. "Fear is what has just saved your life. I was afraid, terrified even."

"But you did act, which I think proves that you didn't let your fear rule over you. You acted. For which I owe you. That was very brave of you." Olivia pointed out, with a shadow of a smirk tugging at her lips. It would almost have been believable if Zach had not seen, and understood the state she was in mere minutes ago. "Thanks. But we wouldn't have gotten this far if you didn't get me to start running in the first place."

"I guess we make a pretty good team," she joked before inspecting the wound on her ankle. "Now, if you don't mind. I kind of need your help again."

Kneeling down beside her, Zach took a closer look at the wound. It was not very big, two pairs of bitmarks hardly bigger than a tangerine. But the skin surrounding it was a bright red and beginning to swell. "You need to suck little bits at a time, and immediately spit it back out. As long as you don't swallow, it should be fine."

"Have you done this before?"

"No."

With that as his last encouragement, Zach did as Olivia instructed, his mouth getting strangely bitter by the moment. When at last he nearly threw up in the sand, because of the disgustingly bitter taste. Liv pulled a flask from her pocket, dapped the torn piece of fabric in it, and handed it to Zach. "Drink something. It's not much, but it should get us through the night."

He thankfully took a few small sips, watching Olivia intensely as she cleaned and bound her wound. "First excavation and I get poisoned," she muttered under her breath.

"Is this your first excavation?" Zach asked curiously.

"Yes. Yours as well?" She retorted, standing wobbly on her own two feet. With her hand on his shoulder, Zach supported her while she gazed up at the night sky. "The moon is setting in the west, which must be over there, so the east must be in that direction. That's where our camp is."

"You sure know your astrologie."

Olivia giggled nervously, "I was a girl scout in middle school."

"Really, that sounds like fun." Zach comments before adding, "Odd you didn't learn this in your freshman excavation? Or the internship a year later."

After a few moments of sputtering, followed by a brooding silence, Olivia releases all her tension with a sigh. "Alright, you caught me. I'm not an archaeology student. I actually study psychology."

"May I ask why you lied about it?"

Olivia raised an eyebrow in suprise, "if I say no, will you press me for answers?"

"No."

For the longest time, they walk in silence. With another sigh, Olivia speaks again. "I'm sorry about what I said earlier. About you not doing dirty work, and your friend being sleazy. You don't seem half bad, Zach. But that friend of yours still is sleazy."

Zach chuckled, facing away from Olivia in the hopes of hiding his blush. "Lloyd means well. He just tried to boost my confidence, but did it in a very uncomfortable way for which I am sorry."

"You already said that."

"I did, didn't I?" With his free hand he scratched the back of his neck. Where was that cold air when he needed it? Olivia looked at him with a gentle smile. "To tell you the truth I always dreamed of becoming an archaeologist. Ever since I learned about the ancient Romans, I dreamed of uncovering the mysteries of our past. Travelling to far off places."

"So, why didn't you?"

Turning her gaze towards the sky, Zach could see tears glistening in her green eyes as she swallowed a lump. "My parents told me I could never have a career in archaeology. That I, especially as a woman, was doomed to stay in a stuffy old museum with minimum wage."

"What!" Zach fumed. "That is nonsense! There are plenty of female archaeologists, and if this is your passion, I'm sure you'll be great at it. Sure we archaeologists don't make millions. But wouldn't you rather do something you love, and get paid then hate your job, and only do it because you get paid?"

"Tell that to my parents."

"I will," Zach blurted out before he even realized what he had said. But looking at the girl next to him, he couldn't help but want to offer his help. "I'll tell your parents that their daughter will surely make a great archaeologist because she has something no college can teach; passion."

"Zach, that is the sweetest," before she could even finish her sentence, her eyes rolled back, and she fell like a ragdoll into his arms. Seeing the campsite not far away, Zach picked her up and ran as fast as his feet could carry him. It wasn't long before he managed to get the attention of several archaeologists as Blake ran up to him with eyes as big as plates. "Oh my God. What happened? We've been looking everywhere for you two."

"Mens - thieves - shot - running - poison! She needs medical help."

"Breath, Zachariah. Breath. The police are already here, they'll take Olivia." Reluctantly Zach handed Olivia's unconscious body to the authorities, who along with Blake, rushed off. Before they were even out of sight, the air was knocked out of Zach by his best friend. "Your safe. Oh thank heavens! I thought those criminals had killed you." Lloyd rambled, refusing to let go of Zach.

"The criminals? The ones at the mine?"

Lloyd loosened his grip to look him in the eye, "Yes. They were trying to steal copper. We all heard shots, and you guys were gone."

"We got away, Lloyd. I am alright."

Another hug, even tighter than the first one followed. "Don't ever scare me like that again."

"But Olivia," Zach mumbled as he saw the car with her in it speeding off.

"Well, go after her." Lloyd pushed. "Don't let her be the one that got away."

"She won't. We know how to find our way back."