So if you've never heard of the Zombies Run! app, I highly recommend you check it out. Basically it revolves around a town called Abel during the zombie Apocalypse and the 'Runners' they send out on missions to collect supplies and intel...etc. All making for a perfect Tomb Raider twist! With Lara and Sam of course. And a few familiar faces.
Also I don't know whether this is just a one off kind of thing, or whether I'll continue it. I still have my other story to finish first though!
'Attention, Runners Three, Seven and Five report to the gates.'
Lara was halfway through eating her breakfast when the announcement came on over the speakers. Immediately she abandoned her food, a measly bowl of lukewarm porridge and a cup of tea, and pulled on her running gear. Once she'd finished tying the laces on her blue Nike Free Run shoes, she hastily left her room and headed out to the gates.
Abel Township wasn't that big. When Lara first arrived at the small town with her best friend Sam a little over a year ago, it had been a state. There were just a few camps, two farms, an armoury, and a communications tower. Lara had signed herself up to be a Runner almost immediately, much to Sam's dismay who would have preferred that the ex-archaeologist join her up in the communications tower. Her first run was nearly a disaster. What had started out as a simple supplies run to a nearby abandoned supermarket, ended up with Lara being chased back by a horde of nearly forty zombies. Luckily she'd made it back to Abel without being bitten, and was saved by the other Runners that were sent out to distract the zoms away from the gates.
But Lara was a better runner now; a year of missions and training had seen to that. After that incident, one of the older Runners, Runner Three, had taken Lara under his wing. Conrad Roth had been a Royal Marine before the outbreak, and somehow managed to single handily fight off his fellow soldiers when they'd turned. He'd been the commander of Lara's first mission, so when she arrived back after nearly dying he felt it was his job to protect the girl. That and the fact that she was the daughter of his old friend Richard Croft. Thanks to Roth's training, Lara was now considered one of the best Runners in Abel Township.
By the time Lara reached the gate, Roth and Runner Seven were already there. Runner Seven was another of Lara's close friends, Alex Weiss. Shortly after arriving, Lara had found out that Alex was also studying at UCL when the outbreak hit. He and his roommate had escaped London by the skin of their teeth and made it to Abel looking for safety. Everyone who came to Abel had to earn their due, and Alex had signed himself to be a Runner after years of competing in track and field competitions.
"Hey LC, you good?" Alex asked Lara as she approached the pair.
"Yeah, I wish I'd had time to finish my breakfast first though. What are we doing today?"
"Scouting recon," stated Roth. "There's something going on with New Canton, Major de Santa reckons they're up to something."
New Canton were a nearby town, not too different from Abel. However they had a reputation of looking out for only themselves, and on more than one occasion had turned some of Abel's Runners away to die when they were trying to escape the hordes. Lara double checked her headset was working before putting it on. Roth and Alex did the same.
"Testing, do you copy?" she said into the mic.
'Good morning Sweetie! How are you today?' Sam's voice filled her ears. 'Did you have a good sleep? I hope I didn't wear you out too much last night!'
Lara went beet red as she felt Roth and Alex's gazes on her. Just in the past few weeks, Lara's friendship with Sam had turned into something more. Neither of the girls knew how it happened, but they decided they couldn't deny their feelings. Lara's comms had gone silent when she was out on a mission, leading Sam to fear the worst. Three hours later Sam was relieved to see Lara making her way back to the gates. She'd flown out of the tower and down to the town entrance where she engulfed Lara in her arms as she crossed into safety. The girl was exhausted from her run and struggled to stand. Sam had led Lara to her bunk, and looked after her all night. Lara had been slumped in the bathtub, Sam hovering nearby, when she told her the truth. The Japanese girl couldn't control herself, and ended up fully clothed in the water on top of a very naked Lara who was kissing her back.
"I-I slept fine, thank you," Lara spluttered.
'Oh that's good,' Sam purred. 'Hey I think I left my panties somewhere in your room, maybe after you've finished this mission I could come round and collect-'
'Miss Nishimura!' Reyes snapped. 'Let's focus on the mission first okay?'
Lara heard Sam mutter expletives under her breath at Reyes through the mic. She was halfway through stretching her hamstring when Sam said something about Reyes 'ruining her game, and that she needed to take the stick out of her ass,' making Lara stifle a laugh. Joslin Reyes worked in the communications tower with Sam as an engineer. She was in charge of making sure all the equipment ran smoothly, which included the Runner headsets and cameras that were located outside the town. Reyes had also invented a tracker device for the Runners so that they were warned when a zombie was nearby. But she was also a cold woman. She was dating Roth so Lara saw her quite a lot around town, but she never gave Lara a second glance. In fact, it almost seemed that she despised her. Lara was going to confront her one day about it that was until Alex told her that Reyes' daughter Aisha had been bitten when the two escaped London and Reyes had been forced to kill her.
'Yes of course,' Sam stated turning professional. 'Runners Three, Five and Seven your mission today is to scout around New Canton. The Major believes they're up to something and we need to find out what that is. Reyes has managed to programme your headsets to hack into their communications when you get nearby. Runner Three you will be in charge of this mission.'
"Roger that Sam," Roth replied.
The three Runner took their positions by the gate. Glancing over to Roth, Lara smiled when he gave her a quick thumbs up before he focused his attention to the task at hand. The Runners braced themselves to sprint out into the open.
'Okay. Raise the gates!'
The metal creaked as the huge ten foot doors began to open. There were a few zombies lingering around, but they were dealt with quickly by the soldiers with guns in defence tower above.
'Runners ready? Providing covering fire! And...go!'
Lara pushed herself off the ground as quickly as she could. Adrenaline began pumping through her body as she passed the zombies that were getting picked off by the bullets raining down on them. Once they were clear, the three slowed down their pace. Their tempo was fast by most standards, but to the trained Runners, it was a fairly casual speed. It was foggy this morning and cold. So when the three split into formation, which was a good fifty metres between them, Lara struggled to make out her friends through the dense fog.
'Good job guys!' Sam's happy voice floated in their ears. 'You've got a good pace going, and no zombies are on your tail yet! The only bad news is that this fog is making it hard for us to see you clearly through the cameras.'
"I'm guessing...that's not good?" Lara asked.
'Of course not! How am I supposed to check out my hot girlfriend now? I bet you're wearing those really tight leggings again too.'
"Hey you know if you two want some privacy me and Roth can just go radio silent?"Alex joked.
The ex-archaeologist groaned in embarrassment as she continued running along the trail. She could only just see the silhouettes of Roth and Alex either side of her.
'Runners please ignore Miss Nishimura's unprofessionalism. The cameras are down, but you still have your trackers and comms equipment. Everything should be fine.' Reyes informed them. Just after Reyes finished talking, their trackers decided to flare up.
"WARNING ZOMBIES DETECTED."
That was their cue to speed up. The first initial warning meant that the undead were about a hundred metres from them. Another warning would come up if that gap closed down to fifty. The only issue the Runners had was that they weren't entirely sure which direction the zoms were coming from.
"Shit, can you two see where they are?" Lara asked.
"Not yet," Alex replied. "Let's just keep moving."
"Agreed. Keep an eye out and pick up the pace. Sam? Do you know where they're at?"
'We can't see anything yet Runner Three...it's still too foggy.'
"WARNING ZOMBIES AT 50 METRES."
At this point, their trackers began to emit a loud beeping noise into their ears. The beeping would get faster the closer the zombies got. Lara's heart began to speed up.
"Shit! The bastards are getting closer! What if we're running right into them?" Alex panicked.
'I told the Major it was a bad idea to send them out in this weather! But he didn't listen to me!' Reyes' voice boomed at Sam.
"WARNING ZOMBIES AT 30 METRES."
'Why won't these cameras work?' Sam yelled in frustration. 'Wait...there! Oh crap! To your right Runners! Around...ten zombies closing fast! Run!'
In the end, the three of them managed to evade the pack with the help of Roth's quick thinking. He split off from the other two and headed towards the river where he hoped to lose the zombies before meeting up with Lara and Alex.
"I hope Roth is careful," Lara huffed as she jogged alongside Alex.
"He'll be fine, you forget that he's been doing this for ages."
'Hey you guys, there's no zombies following you so Roth's plan is working. You're still a good mile or so away from New Canton so you won't pick up their radio chatter yet.'
"Okay thanks Sam."
'In the meantime how about a little music? Sound good?'
"Hell yes!" Alex beamed. Lara just rolled her eyes at the boy.
'Oh my god as if! You'll never guess what song I've found Lara!'
A few seconds passed by before the cheesy upbeat opening chords of One Direction's What Makes You Beautiful flowed through their headsets as well as Sam's giggling. Alex scoffed in disgust.
"Really Sam?"
'Hey this is Lara's favourite!'
Alex looked over to Lara in question. The British girl sighed.
"It was one time okay? She saw it was on my gym playlist on my iPod and hasn't let me forget about it since. Besides...it's quite catchy."
"Oh my god I can't believe it! Who'd have thought that badass Runner Five aka Lara Croft is a Directioner."
"What? No I'm not."
'She totally is. She had a poster in her room and everything.'
"Sam! That's not true!"
'I caught her dancing in her underwear to them once too...wanky.'
"Lies! All lies!"
"WARNING ZOMBIES DETECTED."
"Oh bloody hell," Lara cringed as the pair spotted a zombie shuffling towards them. The pair stopped. It looked like any ordinary teenage girl, but she'd had her leg snapped in a horrible angle, and blood was pouring out of her mouth The icing on the cake was that she was wearing the remains of a tattered shirt which had Harry Styles' face plastered over it.
"You have got to be kidding me!"Alex announced before he started laugh. "Sam, this zombie has a fucking One Direction t-shirt on! What are the odds?!"
'No way! Ha!'
Lara ignored the two's giggling. She pulled out her pistol from its holster and walked over to the zom. It moaned as she got closer, but it went silent when Lara fired a bullet into its skull.
"Are you two quite done now? We have a mission to continue," she deadpanned.
'Oh okay spoilsport,' Sam relented. 'You should be able to pick up New Canton's communications now.'
"Any sign of Roth?"
'Let me check...no nothing yet...oh wait! Yes he's about five minutes out from your position. Now all this fog has cleared I can see everything again, including your fine ass.'
"Sam," Lara groaned. "How Reyes hasn't throttled you yet I don't know."
'She's not here right now, she got sent to see the Major. Which means my flirting has no limits!'
"Can you two please get a room? Otherwise I'm turning off my radio." Alex piped up.
"Sam just play us some decent music while we run please? We've got nothing on the New Canton channel yet."
'One of these days Runner Five I will get you to flirt back. But yeah here you go.'
Sam finally broadcasted some actual running music to the pair as they ran. Not long after, Roth caught up to them having evaded the zombies. They were about a minute or so out from reaching New Canton, and they still hadn't heard anything from their comms. Were Reyes hacking skills not as good as she thought? This was strange.
"Something's not right," Lara stated as they reached the New Canton compound.
"Why is there smoke?" Alex asked, pointing to the trail of black that reached up into the sky.
They reached a clearing in the forest where they hid amongst the trees and looked out at the town. Roth pulled out a pair of binoculars so they could get a better look.
"That's not possible. I never thought..."
"What is it Roth?"
"Take a look for yourself Lara."
New Canton was swarming with zombies. It looked like someone had blown up a hole in the wall of their town which had allowed the horde to get in. But how? New Canton was renowned for its solid defences and if they could fall so could Abel. But how had they broken through the wall? It would take something like a bomb or a...
"Is it my bad eyesight here, or does that zombie have a rocket launcher in his hands?" Alex inquired in disbelief.
'Are you guys seeing this?!' Sam piped up. 'The horde is massive! I've never seen so many in one place at the same time!'
'I don't like this one bit,' Reyes had returned. 'Runners, you need to come back straight away. If those zombies spot you...and with that rocket launcher.'
"How did they learn to use it?" Roth said taking the binoculars off Lara. "Oh no. Run!"
The old marine hauled Alex and Lara to their feet, but they barely had time to move out the way before they were flung in the air from the explosion and knocked out cold. The zombie had fired the rocket launcher at them! Lara's head was numb when she awoke, and she could vaguely hear someone shouting at her as her vision adjusted.
"Lara! Get up! We need to go! Now!" Roth commanded, pulling her up. He had blood pouring out of a gash on his head.
"Wait...w-what?" she said disorientated.
"That huge horde is heading our way, we need to escape!"
"But...Alex?"
She saw a few feet nearby that Alex was lying face down in the dirt and wasn't moving. She also noticed how he no longer had his right leg, and that a large pool of blood surrounded him. He must have been right at the very heart of the impact. Tearing her gaze away from the body of her fellow Runner, she looked to Roth.
"C'mon girl, keep it together. Now run!"
"WARNING ZOMBIES DETECTED."
The two set off at break neck speed as they heard the groans of the horde echo behind them. Lara felt her ribs cry out in pain as she pushed herself forward, and also noticed how her left foot felt like agony too.
'Hello? Anyone there? Runner Three? Runner Seven? Lara...Please respond.'
"Sam!" Lara yelled, slightly out of breath.
'Please Lara...please answer. Our cameras have gone down all around New Canton.'
"I'm here Sam!"
Sam had started to cry softly on the radio. Lara looked at Roth in desperation.
"Our mics must be broken, she can't hear us. Just focus Lara, and keep moving."
"WARNING ZOMBIES AT 50 METRES."
"How did they catch us so quickly?!"
"I don't know Lara...they're not normal zoms, I'll give you that."
"At this rate they'll catch us before we can get back, and even if they don't we'll be leading an entire horde straight towards Abel! Wait Roth! Why have you stopped?"
"I'm not making it back."
"What don't be stupid," Lara tried to pull him along. "We'll just have to outrun them."
"You said yourself girl, if we make it to Abel, the horde will too and then they'll overrun it just like New Canton."
Roth tugged his sleeve back down over his arm. Lara glared at the red stain seeping through the fabric. She grabbed his arm again and rolled up the sleeve. Roth had a large bite mark on his forearm.
"When...?" she said softly.
"Back when I was leading that pack away from you and Alex. One of the bastards, a big fellow got a hold of me before I had the chance to blow his brains."
"WARNING ZOMBIES AT 30 METRES."
Roth yanked his sleeve down and pushed Lara away from him. He pulled out his two pistols and handed them to the young Runner.
"Go Lara now!"
"But...I can't do this without you!"
"Of course you can you're a Croft, now run! Just run!"
Lara turned away from her mentor and took off, while Roth led the horde away from her. She ran like she never had before, all with tears streaming down her face. Alex was gone...Roth was gone...she couldn't die. No she was going to get back to Abel. She needed to tell them what she saw! She needed to see Sam and tell her she loved her again. God if only she hadn't been so off with the Japanese girl when she flirted over the comms system. If only her bloody microphone wasn't damaged!
'Lara' Roth's voice said in her ears. 'I know you can't answer back but I'm just letting you know I managed to get the majority of the horde to follow me, but you still have around ten or so zombies on your trail. Good luck Lara, and I'm proud of you.'
The British girl didn't think it was possible, but she ran faster and harder. Just keep running. That was all she had to do. She could make it back, she was a Croft. No, she was Runner Five!
'I don't know if you're still alive Lara, but I'm going to talk to you anyway.' Sam sobbed. 'Remember the trip to Barcelona back in first year? We stayed in that dodgy looking hostel, with that guy called Pedro...he's probably dead now. It was fun wasn't it? I just remember filming you describing every single detail about Gaudi to that bunch of Japanese tourists and their faces when they realised you could speak fluently! You were glowing in the sun...so you can't blame me for falling in love with you.'
"Oh Sam," Lara soothed even though she knew Sam wouldn't hear her.
'The world has gone to shit. It's cruel and unforgiving. But I didn't think it'd be so harsh that it'd take you from me only a few weeks after we finally revealed our feelings to each other. God please be alive Lara...please don't let it be a zombie with your headset on. Huh...even as a zom I still think you'd look banging. Yes? No? That was a bit too far wasn't it?'
Lara chuckled in between her exhaustion. She was nearly there! Abel was only a mile or so out! She would make it back to Sam! Sam would know that too if only she looked at her bloody cameras now she was within range.
'Huh? I've just picked up an image on my camera. Is that Roth? Oh my god look at all those zombies! Reyes are you seeing this!?'
'What the hell is he doing?' Reyes shrieked. 'He's nowhere near Abel! This is a suicide mission! Why?'
'Hold on let me zoom in...look at his arm. He's been bitten.'
'That stubborn bastard.'
'Reyes?'
'Check the other cameras, the ones not far out the town.'
'Okay but there's nothing but zombies...oh. It can't be...Lara is that you?!'
Since she knew Sam and Reyes couldn't hear her, she waved her arm up in the air. A jolt of pain went through her shoulder. That was another injury to add to the list.
'Oh thank god!' Sam sobbed. 'She's alive Reyes! Her mic must be broken or something and that's why she can't reply. Runner Five...Lara...keep going you're nearly home. You've got a pack of ten closing in on you. Just get to the gates. And you better prepare yourself Lara Croft because I am going to shag your brains out tonight!'
'Sam!' Reyes chided.
'You know what Reyes? I don't give a shit.'
Lara laughed freely all the way; she could hear the footsteps of the zombies behind her and the warnings from her tracker but she just didn't care. As she neared the town, she spotted the gates at Abel opening up to let her in. She'd made it! Or so she thought.
Out of nowhere a hand yanked around her ankle and swept her off her feet. Lara's chin collided with the hard ground as she fell. As trained she pulled out her pistol and fired point blank at the zombie before it got a chance to bite her. As soon as she did that, another one was upon her, growling at her in hunger.
'Shit she's in trouble! Send people out to help her! Hang on Lara!'
The ex archaeologist managed to scramble up and start running again, but not before another zombie lunged at her. This time she wasn't so lucky. The zom sunk his teeth into the flesh on her arm as she yelled out in pain.
"GET OFF ME YOU BASTARD!"
And with that she knocked him off her with a solid punch to his decaying head. Lara seized the opportunity to make a last attempt for the gate, As she pulled herself to her feet once more, a few soldiers arrived by her side with some Runners, who were busy distracting the remainder of the pack.
"Runner Five, quickly!" ordered Jonah, Runner Ten.
Eventually they made it back. Lara collapsed on the floor of the compound from exhaustion and struggled to keep her eyes open. It was like her first run all over again. Except this time she'd been bitten. Her stomach sunk at the thought of what was to come.
"Lara!" Sam yelled as she made her way down from the radio tower.
Immediately a group of soldiers formed a wall around Lara, who was still lying on the floor.
"Hey what gives? Let me see her!" Sam barked, trying to push past.
"Miss, please step back. We cannot let anyone come into contact with the infected. Standard procedure must apply."
"Sam..." Lara groaned.
"Infected? What are you talking about? That's Runner Five!"
"Sam..." Lara said again.
"We are aware that it's Runner Five, but she has been bitten."
Sam's heart sunk as she looked at the wound on Lara's arm. She shook her head and whispered a small 'no' before she began to cry. Lara finally found the energy to sit up so she could look at her friend through the wall of soldiers.
"H-how long does it take?" she asked one of them.
"Usually a few minutes, it'll start anytime soon." The man replied solemnly.
"When it does...end it quickly please."
"We will."
Lara sat there looking at Sam, who was being comforted by Reyes of all people. The town's people were all watching in curiosity at the scene before them. Some of them panicked. Runner Five has been bitten! She shouldn't be in here! Runners Seven and Three are dead! While others just sent Lara or Sam a pitying glance.
A minute passed. And then another. Soon five minutes had gone by and Lara still felt the same. She was tired and hurt yes, but she didn't want to eat people. The soldiers began to mutter amongst each other. One disappeared and the reappeared with Abel's doctor, Doctor Maxine Myers. She spoke to the soldiers in hushed tones and pointed to Lara. They surprisingly let her through the wall.
"Hello Lara, how are you feeling?" she spoke, kneeling down beside the Runner.
"Bloody knackered," she replied earning a chuckle from the audience. "But other than that I'm alright."
"I see."
"Shouldn't I have, you know, turned by now?"
"Yes. Can I see your arm?"
Lara lifted up her arm for the doctor to inspect. She and everyone around them let out a gasp when they saw there was no longer a bite mark there. In fact there was no trace at all that Lara had been hurt. The British girl glanced at Sam who was wide eyed.
"But...h-how?" Lara questioned in disbelief. "I felt the zombie bite me! I'm infected!"
Doctor Myers stood back up to her feet. She nodded at the soldiers, who saluted and then marched back off to their barracks. Lara was dumbfounded when the doctor helped her to her feet and then motioned for Sam to come over. She smiled at the two.
"Well Miss Croft, I'll have to run a few tests but I'm pretty sure in saying that you're immune."
"Immune? That's not possible...what!?"
"It's been two years since the infection started and there is not one report of anyone surviving a zombie bite. So yes, you're immune and also hope for mankind."
"I-I think I need a cup of tea," Lara rasped, swaying on her feet. Sam instinctively wrapped an arm around her to steady the girl.
"I agree." Doctor Myers beamed. "Go and rest, tomorrow I'll run those tests and you can debrief the Major on what's happened. Now if you'll excuse me."
Like a deer in headlights, Lara let Sam lead her to her room like she'd done after her first run. The bowl of porridge was in the same place she'd left it this morning as was everything else. Sam sat Lara down in an old armchair and knelt at her feet. She grasped the girl's cheeks with her hands and pulled her in for a kiss. Lara didn't respond at first, she was still dazed by everything. But eventually she let her body slump and give into Sam. The Japanese girl cried into Lara's mouth as the reality of it all came crashing down. Roth had died. Alex had died. Lara had been bitten, but she wasn't infected. In fact it now seemed that Lara was going to become the person that made a cure possible. It had been an intense day. As she let Sam bawl into her chest, Lara held the girl close to comfort her. At the start of the day she was just Runner Five, one of the many Runners in Abel Township. Now she was Runner Five, the hope of mankind. It was hard to wrap her head around.
She really needed a cup of tea.