Background: Lara is in the U.S. searching for a cure to the fungal infection from TLOU. This chapter is just on Lara and is 20 years before The Last Of Us takes place. During their quest to get a cure Sam gets bitten by a runner and thats where we start! Enjoy please! (This is my first anything so forgive me if it sucks HORRIBLY)

"I don't know how much further I can go Lara." Sam said.

Her condition had gotten worse, it had only been 4 hours since she was bitten and already she was disoriented and coughing blood. "I won't let you die here Sam." Lara said.

Lara was supporting her as they walked through the caves. The scrolls she'd read stated that, "In the darkness of those caves the light which would save humanity from the great plague would be revealed". She was sure that this was the plague it had foretold. The world was crumbling around them outside, people were going crazy and millions were already dead.

Sam and Lara continued forward into the cave, progressing slowly. Lara was supporting most of Sam's weight now as she could scarcely move her legs anymore. "Sam! Look!"

The walls were covered in primitive drawings. Lara held her torch up to them to get a better view of the images when suddenly, someone came out of the darkness. Lara could not reach for her bow without dropping Sam, so she stood looking at the figure completely defenseless. "Who's there? Who are you?" Lara called to them.

"I am the one who wrote the scrolls you found. I awoke when you unearthed them and have been waiting for you to come."

The figure stepped closer to Lara and in the light of the torch Lara could see it was a woman in a cloak which concealed her entire face in shadow. The woman stood mere feet away from Lara and Sam. "Please," Lara said, "Help her. She was bitten by an infected person, she won't last much longer if we don't do something!"

Sam was still under Lara's arm when suddenly she fell to the ground, "Sam!" Lara yelled, kneeling down beside her.

"Alas your friend is doomed child. As well as those above us who have been bitten."

"But the scroll said-"

"That you would find the cure to the great plague in this cave. This cave will lead you to the cure but it is not here. It is not in this time."

Lara had tears in her eyes as she looked at her friend on the ground. "What do you mean? How can I find a cure that doesn't even exist yet?"

"You must leave this time. With my magics I can send you to the time where the cure will be."

Lara knew full well what magics could do. She remembered the things she'd seen on Yamatai months ago. An ancient army of Storm Guards, a dead queen who tried to steal the life of the living to rise again. "But what about the people here now? Are they all going to die?"

"No. Not all. But most will be bitten and become the things you saw above and worse."

Sam began convulsing on the ground in Lara's arms, foam seeping from her mouth. "Oh god Sam!"

"Your friend is going to turn in a moment, I suggest you end her life now before she turns into a monster."

Lara looked at the hooded woman and then back at Sam. She didn't want Sam to turn into one of those things she'd seen. Sam's shaking ceased and her entire body went still. Lara pressed her lips on the middle of Sam's forehead, tears falling down her face as she removed her pistol from her holster. She placed the barrel of her gun where she had kissed her best friend. "Goodbye Sam." Then she pressed the trigger, the sound bouncing off the cave walls, surrounding her.

Lara knelt in silence with Sam's body for a few moments before the woman nearby spoke again, "I am sorry. Now you see what this plague will do to humanity. You must leave and go to the time where humanity's only chance exists."

Tears still in her eyes, Lara looked at the woman and said "I'm ready."