Seeking a short story title set in Egypt, I think ....

[Altdude]

This short story is set in one of one the pyramids of Egypt, perhaps. It may not seem like sci-fi, but I’m pretty sure I read it in a science fiction anthology. The narrator is part of a tour group off to tour a pyramid or some ancient Egyptian site. As the group makes its way to the site, the narrator begins to notice fleeting images of strange creatures near the group. For example, he glimpses a baboon-like animal darting about on the face of the pyramid. Once inside the pyramid (or tomb, perhaps), the group goes deeper and deeper into the structure. Slowly it dawns on the narrator that perhaps they are all dead and they are descending into the underworld. It seems he is the only one cognizant of this possibility. Everyone else appears to be oblivious as they listen to one member of the group read text from a guide book. I think the last line of the story is something to this effect: "We continue to descend". Anyone know it? Altdude

 

[otistdog]

FYI for future searchers, this same question has been posted elsewhere and may have an answer there at some point.

Personally, I'm reminded of a different short story with a similar premise: The narrator wakes on an airplane (headed for Cairo?) due to a "bump" and, in looking out the window, slowly comes to suspect that the plane was destroyed by a terrorist bomb and everyone is being taken into the Egyptian afterlife. I think there are correspondences to your story that don't match in the details, like spotting crocodile-like monsters in the river (Nile?) below. It ends on the same note of continuing on as things get slowly stranger. I thought it was a Dan Simmons story, but I can't find it now. Perhaps someone else will recognize this?

 

[Victoria Silverwolf]

Darn it. I know I've read the one mentioned by Altdude, but I have gone completely blank on the title.

I think it's by Robert Silverberg, but I'm not even 100% sure about that. Do you know about what year, or what anthology?

 

[otistdog]

FYI to anyone coming along to this page: The one that I was describing was "Death on the Nile" by Connie Willis, and it seems very likely to be the same story as the one sought by Altdude.

 

[Danny McG]

I agree.
I've got that story and it matches the querents main points

 

[hitmouse]

There is a Lovecraft ss that has some resumblance to this description. Stars Harry Houdini iirc.