The Adventure Begins
Hillary was standing in the kitchen holding out his polished silver tray. Lara walked straight past, throwing a sexy wink his way. He smiled before clearing his throat and resuming his professionalism. Christie bolted down the stairs. She was wearing her usual baggy denim jeans and black vest. Her hair was blowing behind her. She continued to run until Hillary stopped her.
'What?' She questioned. 'Lara said I have to do more obstacle practise…outside.'
Hillary pointed at her earrings. 'They have to be removed first. And that thing in your mouth. Oh and tie your hair back.'
Christie nodded. 'Okay, but I've only just had this pierced and if I take it out it'll kill man!' She began to tie her dreadlocked hair behind her head. 'C'mon Hilly! You know you can't resist me.'
Hillary smiled broadly. 'Thank you Christie, but those Puppy Dog eyes won't wash with me. It's either take it out or have it ripped out.'
Christie sighed. 'Okay.' She put her fingers in her mouth and began to twist the glistening stud out. She dropped it on his tray along with the other wide varieties of metal that were removed. She patted Hillary on his head and sped off to catch up to Lara.
'Right Christie, I'll time you.' Lara said pulling out a stopwatch from her bag. 'When you get to the end, sound the air horn.'
Christie caught her breath and began to sprint up to the netting which led to the zip line. She threw herself onto it and instantly got tangled up. She tried to release her foot, which was caught in the clinging ropes. She let go with both hands and began to fall backwards. Her head was inches away from the gravelled floor. 'Lara!' She shouted, her arms flailing around. 'Lara, help!'
Lara was stood one arm folded, the other holding the stop watch. 'You know I can make this course in less than ten minutes. You're already at five and you have the zip wire, agility test, under water challenge and grapple hook task all to complete. I'd get a move on if I were you. You don't have time to act stupid when you're tomb raiding you know.'
Christie started to wriggle manically like a fish caught in a net. Her foot was released and she fell onto the floor in a pile. She rolled backwards and stood bolt upright. 'Restart the clock Croft.' She demanded. 'I will do this. I can do this.'
Lara laughed out loud. 'Okay.'
'Right, here we go.' Christie ran at the net for a second time and began to pull herself up. She was gaining speed and rallied to the top. 'See! Ha! I've done it!'
Lara sniggered. 'Well done Chris. Now keep tight hold of the zip wire. It's a long way down.' She shouted as she looked up vertically.
'Yeah, yeah.' Christie said to herself. 'How hard can it be?' She edged her way to the white line at the end of the platform. She looked down and saw that nothing at all underneath her could break her fall. She took a deep breath and placed both hands on the metal bar secured to the twisted wire. She bit her lip and closed her eyes momentarily before swinging forward. For a moment she felt as though she was going to let go. Her heart seemed to stop completely and a knot had formed in her stomach. She hurtled towards the ground at incredible speed. As she hit the hard floor, she was sent rolling sideways until she stopped facing the blue sky. 'Ouch.'
'So, let the war begin.' Lara appeared stood over Christie with a huge grin across her face. She held out her half gloved hand. Christie refused the help and stood up looking towards the blank firing machine guns, which were waiting for their prey. They both glanced at each other with pure competitive fire. They sprinted off together and headed towards the mounted auto-fire guns. They ferociously fired their shells at the two contenders. Christie didn't have the speed that Lara possessed. She was hit several times with harmless shrapnel and was slowed down ever more by the fact that she had to shield her face with her arm.
Lara vaulted over a seven foot wall, before throwing her bag to one side and diving into an under water abyss. She moved swiftly against the water and clearly at ease. She climbed out to see Christie scrambling over the wall, one leg over, the other pathetically attempting to join it. Lara laughed and back flipped towards a towering brick surface, she grabbed a metal hook that was suspended off the wall. She flung it upwards until it hooked onto one of the clips situated at the very top. She pushed her whole body weight forwards and ran sideways towards two blowing flags. She released herself and landed gracefully onto the finishing podium. She had time to walk over to get her bag and reach in for a pair of binoculars. She put them up to her green eyes and watched her cousin struggle to pull herself out of the water. 'Amateur.' She smiled.
