Chapter Two

Lara's clone stands in front of her, sneering. In her hands is Allister's dead body, limp and bleeding. Lara swings her fist into the doppelganger, but it goes straight through. She tries shooting it, but that doesn't work either.

Screaming in rage, Lara leaps and rams her feet into the doppelganger's face, snapping its head back.

"Lara."

Lara spins round, trying to see who called her name. Allister stands in front of her.

"Impossible." Breathes Lara, walking towards Allister. The building is burning around her, parts of it falling to the ground.

"Yes Lara, come to me, come and stop me from being taken away, save me Lara, save me." Says Allister, stretching his arms out towards Lara.

Lara begins running toward him, but she can't. It's like she is running on a rolling log. She tries jumping but she hit's an invisible wall and is thrown to the ground. All the time Lara

Lara is almost there but Natla swoops down from the ceiling, hitting Lara across the face.

"To late to save him now Lara." She yells, and points her finger towards Allister.

Allister begins to float in the air, he is shrieking Lara's name, pleading her to help him. Lara stands up and sprints towards him, trying to grab his leg, brings him back to her. But just as she touched him, Allister begins to melt away, his loveable face dripping like a candle.

"NO!" Screams Lara. The floor beneath her gives way, sending her plummeting into a fiery pit.

"Hello Lara." Comes the sneer of Amanda, who is pointing a gun at Lara's head. "Time to die." Amanda fires, and time slips into slow motion.

Lara woke with a start. The same damn dream again. Always the same, always as terrifying. She turned over onto her front, and screamed long and loud into the pillow. I'm being taken over by this, she thought. Maybe I could try not bottling it all up, talk to Winston and Zip about it. She rolled over again. Or maybe I could just fall from a great height on a mission, or let them shoot me. A tear sprang into her eye. It would be easiest for me, but how would Zip cope? Losing Allister is bad enough, but losing two people so close together? It would kill him. She thrashed at the covers on her bed. It isn't fair. She sighed. Of course it isn't. Life isn't fair, because if it was, Freddie Mercury would still be around, and ABBA would never have come into existence. She turned again. And Allister would be with us still. Still overly cautious, still there for Zip. She sobbed. And still killing me.

A loud knock pulled Lara from her thoughts. She glanced at the clock. 3:09am. Her eyes narrowed. The main gates don't open until 6:30. Ah great, a break in. At least it'll draw my mind from Allister. Pulling on a black shirt and shorts, Lara ran out of her room, drawing her pistols. She flipped along her corridor silently, opening the door to the balcony.

As she ran down the balcony, the knocks became more frantic. Lara swan dived off the balcony, rolling on the floor. She jumped back and then flipped, landing facing the great wooden doors.

Alright, now to see who's there. Lara swung the door open with her left hand, thrusting her right pistol out, right under the intruder's nose.

An SMG was shoved in her throat.

"Lara, don't fire."

Lara's brow furrowed. That voice is familiar. She looked up and gasped.

Kurtis Trent.