Chapter 14

You try to get up, but its like your body is paralysed. You can't move. You call for Nathan, but all the sound you manage to make is but a mere whimper. Luckily, he still heard you and he's running towards you. "Oh god, Lara." He whispers in worry, as he picks you up and starts running, trying to avoid the few soldiers left.

You feel the pain in your side getting worse, and that pain gives you the strength to press your hand against it. Nathan notices this movement and places his free hand over the wound. You wince at the pain, and you start feeling lightheaded. That strength you had before is depleting, and you wrap your arms around Nathan's neck, and rest your head on his shoulder and you feel weaker and weaker.

"Lara! Don't you dare leave us…" He murmurs. "Guys! Come on! She's bleeding for Christ's sake!" You can hear panic in his voice. Your body is now limp, everywhere is numb, probably from all the blood loss. "Come on Lara. Come on… just a few more seconds." His voice cracks mid-sentence. Is he crying? But, we barely know each other… why does he care so much about me?

After a few steps, he lowers you down to the floor. Still pressing down on your side, he peels off the bandage which didn't do much. He starts whispering words which you could not understand. Your eyes are closed, so you don't know what he's doing, and you don't have the strength to open your eyes.

You scream in pain as he pours some liquid on the wound, but the scream was cut short as a hand is on your mouth to suppress the sound. "Shh there are still a few more people left."

Wait… how can this be? All the pain is gone. How did he-? You open your eyes, and you can see Nathan putting some sort of flask in his bag. "How did you-?" You're gobsmacked. That wound was… unhealable. That was impossible. All he does is smile, tears still stuck to his cheeks. "I have a few tricks up my sleeve."

You decide not to ask about this anymore because it seems that I will know about this "magic" soon enough, and so you stand up, like the wound was never there. Nathan gives you your climbing axe back, "That's all I could retrieve from all that confusion. Thank God you're still here…" He whispers the last sentence, and takes a deep breath. You do the same, and you relax and lower your shoulders for the first time since you were in Roth's car.

"We need to head back; the rest haven't come back. We need to look for them before those crazy fanatic cult believers take them away for some grotesque ritual." You say, as your hatred for Dr. Whitman grows stronger, if it can. But… how did he survive? It's impossible, I saw him get slaughtered by three of the Oni's minions.

Your thoughts were cut short by a loud, high-pitched shriek, and you could recognise the voice.

Sam.

"SAAAM!" You shout, running towards the scream. Nathan follows you, pistol in hand. You try to make as little noise as possible, but the silence is making you uneasy, it's almost too quiet. You are in a long, narrow passageway and there are several doors on each side: two on the left and two on the right. At the end of the hall, there is another door, but this one is different to the others. This one is made of wood unlike the others ones made of metal. In fact, it is the only wooden object in the wretched oil rig. It has small words written on it, so you and Nathan move closer. These words weren't painted on, they were engraved into the wood itself.

You read out loud, "Et quattuor columnas hominum aedificandam. virtute, constantia, caritatem, et bellum. Singulae cum sint cuivis homini, sed verus heros statuet bene utantur." Nathan sighs and says,"Latin? Do you know how to translate this?" "Well, my Latin is a little rusty but, it says something like: Four pillars build humanity: Strength, determination, love and… war. Each of these are acquired to every human, but only true heroes put them to good use."

You turn around to see Nathan looking closely at one of the doors at the side of the passage. "Did you find anything useful?" you say. "I think so… yeah. Did you say something like 'Virtute'? Its painted on the door. And the paint is still wet. OH GOD…" He shouts. You run towards him. "Could you be a tad bit more quiet? What's wrong?!" You say, as he gags. "That's… that is NOT paint. Hoo wee… well would ya look at that… that…th-that is umm… bl- that… is… BLOOD OH MY GOD… I'm not good with blood… well, he he, I'm just gonna lean on the wall here, hehe, that is… wow… hoo… damn that is uhh… wow…"

He leans against the wall, and slowly starts sliding down until he hits the floor. It looks like he's frozen in place, you kneel down next to him, "What? Man has his phobias, one of 'em is bl-blood" He looks at you as if he's ashamed of saying so. But his tone tells you that its more than a phobia that he has. "Stay here, I didn't know you were the type of guy who was afraid of a little blood painted on a door." You joke. "Huh? I wasn't talking about the door; I was talking about inside…"

You look inside, "Oh God…"

Thank you guys for reading this chapter! I'm so sorry for not updating any sooner, these months have been filled with studying for exams, but now they're done! So I started writing this chapter as soon as I had the time. I hope you enjoy, and any reviews will be much appreciated!