This story takes place after AoD. I can't really elaborate on the summary without giving away the plot, sorry.
Note: English ain't my mother tongue, so spelling mistakes are likely to appear as my writing skills in this language are far from perfection.
Disclaimer: I do not own any of the character from the original AoD plot, such as Kurtis, Lara, Karel, Eckhardt, etc. They belong to Eidos Interactive and Core Design. Other characters will appear, however, that belong to me and me alone, such as Aysha, Ethaniel, etc…
Soundtrack: sometimes I use music as a source of inspiration and a certain chapter may have been inspired by a song. When that is the case, I'll refer to that song on the top of the page as 'Soundtrack: name of the song'.
Ok, on with the story :)
Light is filtering from above, she can feel it softly permeating her closed eyelids. A soft rumbling sound reaches her ears, perhaps the purring of an engine. She can't remember where she is nor what happened… but a nagging voice in the back of her mind keeps telling her there wasn't supposed to be light. A part of her wants to open her eyes and try to understand what is going on, but the other is afraid of what she may see if she does. So she just lies there, trying to recall the events of the last hours.
She remembers sneaking into the mess hall with Jack late at night, trying to snatch some extra food from the kitchen. Then the alarms going off and the soldiers rushing in all at once… at first she had thought they were in trouble, but Jack had promptly pointed out that such a mobilization couldn't be due to an insignificant food theft.
She recalls the soldiers telling them to go join the rest of the unit and stand by for orders, so they did. She doesn't remember going there, but she remembers waiting with the others for instructions that never came. She remembers Ethaniel saying "screw this" and moving for the exit of the complex. Of course, Ethaniel being the CO and the natural leader, they all followed. By that time the entire building was shaking dangerously and they had to run before it would collapse around them.
The rest of it is a diffuse blur. She remembers running… whispers about the Cubiculum Nephili being awakened… asking Ethaniel what was going on… her fear when she received no reply… and then the explosion. She remembers her last thoughts, how close they were to the exit… then it all had gone black.
She flinches due to the memories. That's why there wasn't supposed to be any light.
I was supposed to be dead.
Slowly and painfully, she opens her eyes. As the world comes into focus, her other senses seem to awaken too and she spares a thought to how dry her mouth is and how her body aches all over. Then she takes a moment to examine her surroundings. Her brow furrows in confusion as she fails to recognize the shape right in front of her. Slowly, it dawns on her. A wooden chunk.
Eyes widening, moving around frantically. Debris. Lots and lots of Debris. The Strahov has collapsed. And she's here… but why?
Why am I not dead?
She identifies the source of the light that awoke her as being a search light and she hears men talking in Czech.
The police?
Slowly and painfully, she sits up only to find that she has a deep gash running all the way from her upper thigh to just above her knee. No big deal.
It'll be gone by tomorrow.
She gets up on shaky legs, a deep feeling of nausea plaguing her senses. All around her the infinite field of debris stretches, occasionally marked by an officer in a blue suit talking to an intercom. She should be worried about staying out of sight in order to avoid a bunch of annoying questions, but her mind is elsewhere right now.
Where are the others?
Taking a few unsteady steps forward, she spots the police cars up ahead as well as a couple of fire trucks. Not one of her people though. All humans.
"Excuse me, miss!" She turns around slowly, only now noticing the police officer running towards her "Are you alright?" the young man asks in a concerned voice. She stares at him blankly for a moment before replying in perfect Czech.
"I… yes"
"Were you in there?"
"N…no… I…" her still dormant brain struggles to find an excuse, but it's no use. She's too tired, too confused and too concerned for her siblings' well being "… I wasn't" The officer looks her up and down, taking in her torn and bloody clothes.
"What is your name, miss?" he asks, a condescending note in his voice. This one she can work out.
"A-Alison" she blurts out, almost saying her real name.
"Well, Alison, you need to go to a hospital and afterwards we would like you to drop by the police station to answer some questions, alright?" All the while she takes to process this information, little alarm bells ring in the back of her mind until she finally makes the feeble connections in a somewhat crude way: hospital bad, police worse.
"I'm alright" she blurts out a bit too fast to be convincing. She takes a deep breath to calm herself down "I don't need no hospital" The officer regards her dubiously but then shrugs and replies:
"Fine. Off to the police station then" Alarm bells again. Louder. Police station bad. Just as the officer is beginning to turn around, she intervenes:
"You know, actually… I'm not feeling too well…" she emphasizes the statement by staggering slightly forwards, her dazed look so perfect that it could have fooled the most suspicious detective.
The young officer rushes forward to support her, concern back in his features.
"I'm sorry Miss. Alison but I really think I'll have to take you to a hospital" She shudders slightly but gives in. A hospital is better then the police station and much easier to escape from… but if they give her a shot she'll go psycho.
They gave her the shot. The bloody shot. She's lying in the hospital bed half asleep due to the sedative injection just because the stupid doctors though she was too nervous due to shock.
Nervous! I only became nervous when they started talking about the fucking shot! And about that nurse, it wasn't my fault, she stood in the way…
The truth is the sedative did no good in calming her down. In fact, she's even more nervous now knowing that she's wasting time that could be used to escape. She has to get out of there before some smarty-pants doctor decides to examine her and finds out that certain parts of her internal anatomy aren't exactly 'human'. The alarm bells grow deafening.
The blood sample!
They took a blood sample from her just a while ago!
Oh fuck
She's got to get out of there. Fast. As soon as they run an analysis on that blood she'll be caught.
She's not sure how, but her blood is bound to give her away… She has to go.
She clumsily crawls out of the bed and tries to stand up. Her first attempt sends her straight to the floor, unable to hold herself up on shaky legs.
Stupid sedatives!
Finally she manages to stand up and starts for the window with a blurry vision and uncertain steps. She takes another thirty seconds just to be able to turn the handle in order to open the window.
Stupid hospital windows!
As the window slides open, a cold gust of wind hits her straight in the face, ruffling her long ebony hair. She looks down at the streets below, covered in snow. Deserted. Perfect. She looks back at the door of the white tiled room just to make sure no one is coming. The coast is clear.
Slowly and carefully, she swings one leg over the window sill. Then the other. She is now sitting on the sill. Looking down, evaluating. Her brain effectuates the calculations in a micro-second, slower than usual however.
Second story, five meters. High.
Not too high though. Not for her. Balls of feet, knees bent, put weight forward. She revises mentally as she takes a deep breath and finally lets herself fall.
An ill landing draws a hushed curse from her lips, more an exclamation of aggravation than pain.
'Put weight forward' you moron! Ow…
Gathering herself, she begins to scan the outskirts feverishly. A side street. No passers by, no witnesses. Just too good to be true. She spares one last glance at the hospital window high above, allowing a grin to grace her features, blue eyes twinkling with smug pride.
She walks down the street, stopping herself before rounding the corner that would take her into the entrance of the hospital. Only now does she seem to remember that she's wearing only the sheer hospital garment. The cold bites at her bare skin, making her shiver. She curses.
Stupid hospital clothes!
Peeking around the corner, she sees just what she needed: a huge commotion at the main entrance. She makes out a dark haired man dragging himself up the stairs, his stomach bleeding heavily, and calling for help in a somewhat poor Czech. The nurses rush to his aid. A perfect distraction.
She spares a thought of pity to the man, but immediately shrugs it off, remembering her current predicament. Silently, she rounds the corner and continues forward towards the main square. The effect of the sedative seems to be wearing off. Aysha is hungry.
That was the first chapter :) feedback appreciated! Liked Aysha? You better do, coz she's gonna be one of the main characters in the story. If you haven't figured it out yet, this takes place just after Lara has defeated Karel. The explosion blew up most part of the Strahov, leaving only the Sanitarium (in ruins) and the Vault of Trophies. Aysha was in there along with some other… people. Not saying anything else just yet :P please review!