Lara stretched on the somehow uncomfortable camp bed, thinking about the last hours. Being so excited she could not close her eyes. Whatever it was on the map, she knew it had to be here. They just had to wait for the morning, it was impossible to start the search in the darkness. When they showed the map to Frank, he immediately agreed to go after it. This was their only chance to find Kowalski, and to find out what he planned. The silence of the night was almost suffocating, Lara barely heard any noises. Suddenly, she did not know why, but she shuddered. A strange feeling came over her that she could not identify. She rarely felt fear, but this time she was sure that this rather disturbing feeling was hiding in her. The worst thing was that this feeling had hardly anything to do with the fact that she was lying in a tent in the middle of the jungle, and was surrounded by ghostly silence.
Then, in the office, suddenly everything was like before, and it frightened her. Simon helped her, inspired her, just like so many times before, and the memories rushed back to her, after the excitement settled in her. Lara was afraid of the memories, more than anything else. She was afraid of them because she wanted to get back the happiness that she had felt that time, and yet at the same time she also wanted to avoid it from afar because she could not have survived that emptiness once more that followed it. But she could not escape the thoughts that were almost painfully burnt in her brain. She had to avoid him from afar, which was becoming more and more difficult now that they were in the same team.
Frank sent only three people with her, they wanted to avoid attention. And he was right, it would not have been fortunate if they had been noticed. What a little irony of life that Simon and Eddie were in the same team now. Lara had walked into her own trap, and could only hope to get out of it alive. The all-enveloping silence was suddenly broken by roaring explosion. For a moment Lara did not know where she was, but then jumped out of bed and took her backpack. Then another crash was heard, and the fire blew into the wall of the tent, the blast threw Lara meters away, she landed in the dense undergrowth behind the tent, and suddenly all went black around her.
It could not have been long that she was unconscious, when she opened her eyes, the tent was still burning fiercely in front of her, almost everything was covered in flames. Lara felt the heat of the fire on her skin. Nervously, she looked around, but did not see anyone around her. The whole camp was ablaze, and still she was surrounded by such calmness that she expected the worst. The darkness created a terrifying contrast to the red flames. She jumped up from the ground, and carefully approached the trees. After spying out from her hiding place she saw Eddie through the flames, as he crouched in the cover of an off-road car. A sudden relief ran through her when she saw that nothing was wrong with him. But where could the others be? - she thought anxiously. Once she knew that Eddie would not hear her voice anyway, she started to run towards him. Suddenly she just felt a huge blast that flew her back, and the car, behind which Eddie was hiding a moment ago, was ablaze. Lara moaned as she pushed herself to her feet. Some sharp pain slit in her arm, as she touched it, blood stuck to her fingers. Eddie was lying only a few meters from her, but Lara had hardly taken a few steps towards him, when a bullet whistled by her head.
Instinctively she threw herself to the ground, and rolled over to Eddie, while the bullets began to hail around them.
"Eddie!" – she shook the man who was lying motionless in front of her, but slightly stirred to the gesture. Lara breathed in relief.
"What the hell happened?" - Eddie groaned as he tried to sit up.
"Come on, we need to get out of here!" - Lara yelled nervously while she yanked him to his feet. "Where are the others?" – she looked at him with a desperate face.
"I have no idea, I did not see anyone." - Eddie replied uncertainly. Lara then saw something and such fear grabbed her that she had never felt before.
"Run to the woods!" – she screamed at Eddie, and then pushed the man away, who did not even protest in surprise. Lara looked out from behind the dugout, though she did not know why, she could not see anything in the dark. The shots could have come from anywhere, anytime. Only the outline of the body could be seen, as he lay next to the remains of the burning tent, and she could not take her eyes off him. Almost in trance she approached him, already seeing the nightmares in front of her, the bloody face, the glassy eyes. Lara threw herself behind the other car, then crawled over to the man. The body was still warm, his skin was covered with a thick layer of dust, and a tear ran down on Lara's face as she looked into his eyes staring at nothing. As if for a moment the chaos had ceased around her, as if a shell had surrounded them, and she hated herself. She hated herself because all she felt was relief, because the teardrop was not born by the mourning, but by the ease that it was not him lying in front of her. She wanted to feel sadness so much looking at the lifeless face of Dave, but only relief filled her completely that it was not Simon.
With an almost unconscious gesture she reached out towards the man's face, her fingers slid over it, and closed his eyes. For a seemingly endless moment, Lara shut her eyes and took a deep breath. Her lips formed a few inaudible words, then the next second she was running after Eddie. The man was not far away, lying on the ground, clenching his jaw and trying to crawl forward on the ground.
"Oh my God, you've been hit?" - Lara cried desperately. Spooky sounds surrounded them on every side, the dark forest rustled and whispered scarily, as if any minute someone could jump on them from the blackness. Eddie hissed as Lara pulled him up from the ground, and he leaned on her shoulder. They could barely get forward, his weight pressed on her. Lara kept the gun in her right hand trained forward, and her eyes nervously scanned the area. She shuddered to every little noise, snatched her head there, which was then followed by the gun. She wanted to get as far as possible from the camp. If Eddie was safe, she would look for Simon. All she could do was trying to dismiss the worry she felt from her brain, but it just etched into her stomach stronger and stronger with each step. Eddie's weight pressed on her shoulder more and more as he could barely walk. The bushes rustled behind them, Lara snatched her head back, but saw nothing. It was as if thousands of shadows had been around them, as if the night had come alive. Lara almost lost her balance when she bumped into something, quickly she trained her gun, and she came within an ace of firing it.
"Hey, it's just me." – the man breathed heavily as he caught her wrist, so she could not hit him. Lara did not even notice that she was holding her breath, relief broke out of her that Simon was standing in front of her. "Cover us!" - the man said nervously, went to Eddie and took the burden from Lara's shoulders.
"Dave ..." - she blurted out, but Simon interrupted her before she could say anything.
"Now there is no time for this, we cannot help him anymore. Go!" – Simon commanded Lara strictly, who was fighting with herself shortly, but she was actually grateful that he took over the lead.
They might have stumbled in the dark for hours, but no one seemed to be following them. The light of the fire began to fade away behind them, the noises began to die away, the forest calmed down around them. Lara slowly lowered her gun and for the first time realisation ran through her, and she nearly dropped to the ground. She leaned against a tree trunk, and heard that Simon stopped behind her and cautiously helped Eddie to sit on the ground.
"We have to find a place for the night, we cannot stay here." – Simon said practically and Lara just nodded silently. He quickly looked around and saw a fit-looking place, and ushered the others in that direction. The only things that remained with them were Lara's backpack and a few handguns. Fortunately, Lara always had the essential equipment with her for such cases. Eddie swallowed a curse, when Lara tightly bandaged the gunshot wound on his thigh.
"You were lucky." - she said softly. "The bleeding almost completely stopped, the bullet did not hit any artery. Now, relax a bit, we figure out tomorrow what to do." - she continued, and smiled at him.
"Thank you for your help." - he looked back at her gratefully. "Again, I owe you." - Eddie smiled and gently stroked Lara's face.
"Sleep now." - she whispered, then rose and left him alone at the tiny campfire.
Lara walked over to Simon, who was standing a little bit further away, with his back to her, leaning against a tree.
"Thank you for helping Eddie." - Lara said softly. Simon did not turn, only a tiny flutter indicated that he had heard her voice at all.
"I hope you did not think that I would leave him there." - Simon replied with a measured voice.
"No, really not." - Lara mused, and she did not know what else she could say, after a few beats of stillness she bowed her head and turned to go back to the fire. Anything was better than this awkward silence.
"Are you okay?" – she heard Simon's rough voice behind her. He walked up beside her and watched her intensely, then the cut on her arm caught his eyes. He still remembered the night when he had such a wound on his arm and she did not let him not to deal with it. Simon bent down without a word, and took a small first-aid kit. "Sit down!" – he commanded Lara peremptorily, who exceptionally did not protest. Her skin was so silky even now, it conjured up a thousand of memories when he touched her. Lara endured it without a word that Simon dressed the wound, and then when he finished, their eyes met.
Eddie gently turned over to the other side, and since he did not hear anything around him, opened his eyes a little bit to make sure that everything was alright. The shape of Lara caught his eyes who was sitting by the fire, while Simon was kneeling in front of her. One of his hands still rested on the thin bond, which he just placed on her arm, while they were drowned in each other's eyes. Only the fire crackled softly and the flames involved the two figures in a warm, yellowish light. Eddie had never been a sentimental type, but even he could not help noticing the odd attraction, which was vibrating between the two. They did not say anything, but their eyes told everything as they were watching each other. An unspoken feeling was glittering in Lara's eyes, and Eddie was sure that Simon felt the same for her. Eddie looked a little disappointed to himself, when he understood what Natalie had already some days ago. Lara and Simon inextricably belonged together, even if they were fighting against it.
The next morning there was no trace of any feeling or insecurity on Lara's face anymore. She firmly attached the weapons on herself, and put her hair together in the usual ponytail. Eddie tried to move his stiff limbs, while cautiously experimenting if he was able to stand on his feet. The situation had changed somewhat, they were cut off from the outside world, one of them was injured, they had no vehicles and equipment.
"How far could we be from the nearest town?" - Simon mused.
"I don't know, may even be a hundred kilometres. Why?" – Lara asked back idly.
"What do you mean why?" - he raised his eyebrows. "We must get back somehow."
Lara's hands paused for a moment and pondered on what she had heard. She had not even thought of that option. She looked at Eddie, who was still limping, and then reversed her gaze to Simon.
"You're right." - she said. "It will not be an easy undertaking, but you must go back to the civilisation." - she said reflectively, as she buckled her belt to the waist. When she lifted her head, Simon looked at her as if he had seen ghosts.
"What are you talking about?" – he stared at her as if they had not spoken the same language. Simon suddenly grabbed her arm and pulled her with him for the umpteenth time so that Eddie could not hear them. "Are you insane?"
"You do not think that once we have come so far, I would now give up and walk away?" - Lara asked back in disbelief. "You go with Eddie, and I look for that place. I want to know what's there." - she said.
"I'm not going to leave you here alone in the middle of nowhere, so forget it." - Simon said angrily.
"I do not need you, I also got along somehow in the last three months." – Lara retorted, and tried to free her arm from his grip, without success. She looked hard at him not being able to believe that they arrived at this point again.
"This is not necessary." - they both raised their heads as they heard Eddie's voice besides them. "Let's find out why we came here." - Eddie said cheerfully, and limped back to the campsite. Simon, accompanied by a cutting look, let go of her hand. Lara turned away, and followed Eddie.
When Simon returned, he found Lara and Eddie hunched over the map, trying to identify where they might be.
"I don't think we got too far." – Eddie said.
"We may be about six kilometres away. So let's get going before they find us again." – Lara replied, then protestingly put her arm around Eddie, helping him, and they started off to the given direction. Simon followed them cursing within. How can this woman be so damn stubborn? - he thought to himself. It drove him crazy that she constantly contradicted just to annoy him. That she was so dominating, did not bother him. That never caused him trouble. He could handle her. But he hated it when she deliberately wanted to hurt him, just to get revenge for something that really was not his fault. Although it really seemed that Lara blamed him for everything that had happened. But what could he have done in that situation? He would not beg anyone.
And then suddenly it was raining cats and dogs. Simon swore, as he looked up to the sky as if waiting for some answer that did not come. There were such clouds towering above them that it did not seem that the rain would stop within a month. It made them all soaked within minutes. They progressed slower and slower, despite the fact that Eddie was now leaning on Simon. The soil was loosened, their shoes sank deep into the mud.
"Lara!" - Simon said behind her. Lara turned and paused when she noticed that the two men stopped. Even she was tired, she could only imagine how Eddie felt. They were fighting their way up on a path, which was winding up on a hillside. "I think we should stop for a while." - Simon panted, exhausted.
"How far are we?" - Eddie asked leaning against a wet stone. It did not matter anyway, he was soaked to the bone.
"Maybe another two kilometres." - Lara said. "We are not getting forward very well."
"I'm sorry." - Eddie said quietly.
"Oh, it's not your fault." - Lara replied sweetly. "It's not that you wanted to get hurt." - she added. Simon was sure that if it had been him, Lara would have long taken it out on him. He approached her and gently pulled her aside.
"How long do you want to do this? He will not make it much longer anymore." – he whispered softly as he nodded his head towards Eddie.
"And what do you suggest I should do now? Leave him here?" – Lara countered impatiently.
"I can see you are not as understanding with me as with him." – Simon retorted, hearing the irritation in her voice.
"Do you have to do this?" – she looked at him irritably.
"What am I doing?" – he asked back, deliberately repeating the situation at the bar.
"Do you have to annoy me with something all the time?" – Lara whispered, not wanting Eddie to hear them.
"I annoy you? Are you serious now?" – Simon looked at her asking.
"Are you now repeating everything I say?" – Lara retorted.
"At least I answer the questions, not just sit there and say nothing." – Simon said, and their eyes met sharply again.
"So that's your opinion? I should have known, that it's all my fault." – Lara was furious.
"Why? Is it mine?" – Simon asked. Lara just opened her mouth to speak, but she could not answer anymore. Suddenly she felt as if the earth had moved beneath her feet.
"Goddammit!" - she cried out and the soil literally slipped out from under her feet.