As the jeep trudged up the mountain Lara couldn't take her eyes away from the window. The scenery was beautiful, the trees were towering high above the ground, there was bright green grass everywhere blowing in all directions. Lara could see deer scattering away, squirrels running up trees, birds flying around and she even saw a moose in the distance. The weather was calm and moist with just a small hint of a breeze. The sun was still rising as they drove up but they could only see a few streams of light since the mass amount of trees blocked mostly all the sunlight.

This is nothing like Yamatai, its calm here, there is no storm but yet I still have that feeling that something isn't right. How can a beautiful place give me such a sickening feeling?

The jeep drove onto a large cliff that extended far out on the side of the mountain. The area where they parked was still crowed by trees but there was more space in between each tree that would allow tents and tables to be set up without it being cramped. When Lara's jeep arrived, there were tents and equipment already set up and workers already examining the surrounding. There were flood lights set up around the site to allow people to see but Lara could still feel herself tripping over large roots and sticks.

"We will leave to start hiking in a half hour so make sure your backpacks are ready" Thomas said before walking towards a large tent. Everyone else dispersed to where they need to be except for Sam and Lara. Lara grabbed Sam's hand and led her further into the thick mass of trees to where she hoped was where the edge of the cliff was. They walked for about 10 minutes before they saw the tress begin to spread out and they were able to see more light streaming through. They walked several more feet until they were at the edge of the cliff, Sam gasped at the view in front of her. She was dumbfounded at the view that her camera was completely forgotten in her hand.

From where they stood, they could see the sun making its final push into the sky turning the world below from a reddish color to orange. The towns were so small, that they looked like little Legos and they stretched for miles with wooded areas separating each one.

"Look" Sam said pointing to the ocean in the distance. Lara looked her left and saw the Messenischer Golf in the distance. The golf was calm and the waves were gently running along the surface of the water, everything seemed so perfect but that feeling kept creeping up in Lara's gut.

"Sam" Lara said grabbing her free hand. Sam was filming their surroundings but when she heard Lara's tone she turned around to face her girlfriend. She saw a mix of emotions on Lara's face ranging from excitement to worry.

"Sweetie?" Sam pressed.

"I want you to be careful…please…I'm getting a weird vibe from this place so please…Sam, be careful." Lara stressed looking into Sam's eyes to make sure she got the message. Sam nodded and pulled Lara into a gentle kiss.

"We should get back" Sam said. They headed back to the site where the others were waiting for them. Each person had similar clothing on except for Thomas who was wearing his black uniform. The others had cargo pants, hiking boots and thermal shirts since the mountain was known for the amount of rain it got. In their backpacks each person had a set of clothes to change in and a jacket. Everyone had a least one gun. Lara had one in the holster on her thigh and other one hanging next to her ribs that could easily be concealed with a jacket. Sam like everyone else had her gun holstered to her side but she had a knife tucked into her boot also.

"The area we are going to is about 4000 feet ahead of us, we can make most of it by foot but there might be some climbing involved." Thomas said before waving his arm forward. Thomas and Lara took the lead since they both discussed the map the day before. Sam was next followed by Dr. Weston, Emily Maria, Harry, James, Connor, and Wilson the other solider.

The climb started fairly easy but became harder as the elevation increased and the mountain became steeper.

"If this is only after a few hundred feet imagine what the rest of the mountain is going to be like" Sam muttered, she was thankful that she brought gloves because the chill from the breeze began to bite.

"It's a good thing we did lunges during training isn't it?" Thomas replied. Lara smirked and shook her head. As she looked around she noticed that the trees became bigger, their trunks were huge like more than 20 feet in diameter huge.

"The trees are getting bigger" Lara told Thomas as she grabbed his hand to be pulled up on a small ledge.

"Yeah I saw and have you noticed that the roots seem to all be connected almost like pipes. I haven't seen one root that doesn't look like it splits from the others." Lara looked at the ground and saw what Thomas was talking about. She pulled out her mini shovel and started to dig where one of the roots went into the ground.

"What are you doing?" Dr. Weston asked when he got onto the ledge.

"I want to see if the roots split when they go into the ground." Lara replied. She dug into the ground several inches until she could see the root become parallel to the ground. She dug along the root and saw that it attached to another root and then split into two directions. The root that it attached to led to the trees closest to Lara while the other roots went into the direction up the mountain.

"I wonder if they are connected to something bigger." Lara muttered more to herself.

"From what I know about things having connections like that they all seem to lead to one place that it functions from so I'd assume that these roots all lead to some place bigger." Thomas noted.

"Well the other two are going in the direction up the hill so it follows the path we are going" Sam stated. She had the camera pointed at the ground where Lara had dug the hole.

They all set out back up the mountain and like Sam said the roots seemed to be heading in the same direction they were. After traveling about 3000ft and 10 hours later Lara slowed down and walked towards one of the trees to place her hand on it. The tree was warm despite the cold air that was getting colder as they traveled upwards.

"Anything unusual?" Maria asked coming up next to Lara. The others were still walking up but at a slow enough pace that Lara wasn't worried about falling behind.

"The tree is very warm, as if it is a human being." Lara placed both hands on the trunk and leaned her head in to press her ear against the tree. She jumped back, tripped and almost fell back but was caught by Maria. Lara straightened up but Maria still had her arms on Lara's shoulders.

"What did you hear?" Maria asked. Lara felt dizzy. She shook her head and took another step towards the tree pulling away from Maria.

"I don't know but it sounded like a…hea-heartbeat" Lara whispered as she repeated her pervious action of pressing her ear against the tree.

"A heartbeat?" Maria asked. She mimicked Lara's action and her eyes widen in shock when she pressed her ear against the tree.

"See…I know trees are living but this is a real heartbeat…like you'd hear in a human." Lara said.

"Oui!" The girls jumped and turned to see Wilson standing a few feet away waving at them to follow him.

"Come on…" Lara said moving away from the tree towards Wilson. They climbed up to a small grassy clearing that looked as if a fire had passed through it. The trees were burnt and scorched and there were patches of grass that was missing.

"Forest Fire?" Lara asked

"Dr. Weston mentioned that the mountain is known for its forest fires but for some reason they can't find a cause as to what is starting them." Maria told her. Lara saw Sam talking to Thomas and they were pointing in the direction further up the mountain. Thomas was peering over Sam's shoulder at her camera.

"I'll be right back" Lara said before walking away from Maria. As Lara walked away Maria's phone vibrated in her pocket. Maria looked down at it and grinned before heading towards Harry.

"The roots are all leading in to that hole by the wall" Sam said pointing at the image on her camera.

"Well we are close to the coordinates that Croft mentioned…wait…what is that?" Thomas asked. He put his hand on the camera to stop Sam from moving it.

"I don't know…where is Lara?" Sam turned to call out to Lara but saw her standing a few feet away "There you are…look at these" Lara went up next to Sam and looked at what she was pointing to on the camera.

"It's Egyptian hieroglyphics" Lara said. She looked up from the camera and up at the mountain. There was a large stone cliff that went up the mountain but at the bottom of the cliff was a human size hole. The hieroglyphics were on the trees closest to the cliff and some of the hieroglyphics looked as if someone had tried to burn them off or cut them out. There were burn marks and knife marks cutting through the symbols. "We should see where it leads too?" Lara suggested.

"We should but not many people can fit into that hole and it's getting late so I think me and you should go in to see what's inside while the others stay here." Thomas said

"Hey what about me?" Sam asked

"If we find anything ill radio Wilson to let you and the others to come in but the hole is too small and I don't want to risk sending in to many people at once." Thomas gave Sam a stern look that told her that he wasn't changing his mind. Sam handed Lara her camera.

"Please try not to make the shot shaky" Sam said pouting. Lara smirked at her and kissed her nose.

"Okay listen up everyone" Thomas yelled. Everyone turned to face him. "You are going to set up camp here and stay here while Lara and I check out the cave up there." Thomas said pointing up the mountain.

"Why can't we go?" Maria asked

"Because we don't know what we are going to find up there and I don't want to risk sending everyone in. While you guys are out here I want you to look around and see if you can find anything." Thomas turned back towards Lara before anyone could protest.

Lara saw annoyed faces but they all started to set up their tents. Lara took off her backpack and pulled out the tent to give to Sam.

"Leave the backpack, we will take one." Thomas said bending down to rummage through his own to pull out any equipment he didn't think they would need. Lara saw Emily come up behind him holding a black case. He turned and towards her as if he could sense her approaching. Emily handed Thomas the case, he took it put it on his back pack and then grabbed Emily around the waist and pulled her into a hug.

"Be careful" Lara heard Emily whisper to him. Lara stood up, grabbed the folded tent and walked over towards everyone else to give them their privacy. She walked up to Sam and James and dropped the tent on the ground.

"I suppose I have to put this together for you" Lara said pointing to the tent. Sam turned to her and shrugged.

"No…but if you want anywhere to sleep tonight then yeah you do." Sam answered. She went to turn back to James but Lara wrapped her arms around her waist to stop her movement.

"I don't think so…if I'm doing this then you're helping me." Lara said as she nuzzled her head in Sam's neck.

"Do I have too?" Sam whined. Lara nodded and places gentle kisses on Sam's neck. "Fine"

Lara smirked when she pulled away and they began to put the tent together. It didn't take long but Sam was more of a burden than a help, she kept on giving Lara the wrong pieces or completely ignored her to fiddle around with the camera. When Lara was finished Sam pulled out two sleeping bags and placed them in the tent and crawled in. Lara followed her in and saw Sam lying on her stomach pulling out the battery in the camera and placing a new one in it.

Lara crawled to straddle Sam's lower back and ran her hands along her back.

"I put a fresh battery in the camera so you should have a couple hours of battery life. Also the camera has night vision and it's waterproof so I don't want you coming out of that cave without at least a decent video of something."

"Okay" Lara slid her hands under Sam's shirt and enjoyed the feel of Sam's warm body under fingertips.

"Don't do anything stupid please" Sam said. Lara knew what she was talking about; she was telling Lara to come out of that cave alive.

"I won't" Lara said before they heard a tap on their tent.

"I packed our backpack so we can leave when you're ready" Lara heard Thomas say through the tent.

Lara crawled off of Sam and out of the tent. Sam followed her; she felt Sam hang the camera around her neck and place a kiss on her cheek. Sam walked over to where Emily was by the fire. Lara walked to Thomas who was talking to Wilson.

"Keep the radio on and if anything suspicious happens radio me." As Lara got close to him she heard her named being called and looked over to see Maria standing by a few trees. She walked over to her.

"The temperature of the trees is the same as a human's body temperature" Maria said when Lara got close.

Lara looked at the thermometer that Maria was holding against the tree and saw that the spindle was pointing to 98.

"It has to be connected to whatever is in that cave." Lara said looking up at Maria. Lara locked eyes with Maria completely forgetting about everything else. She watched Maria take a step towards her causing the space between them to be only inches. Lara felt her heartbeat speed up, a headache start to form in her forehead and her mind go into a daze. She could tell Maria was getting closer but for some reason she wasn't stopping her even though a nagging feeling was sweeping over her telling her this is wrong.

Sam looked up from her conversation with Emily to search for Lara but didn't see her with Thomas. She scanned the camp site with her eyes until they rested on Lara standing way to close to Maria. Sam watched Maria step closer to Lara, Sam clenched her fist tight until her knuckles were white. She wanted to march over there but for some reason she couldn't move instead she just watched.

Lara felt the headache move to the back of her head but she didn't do anything, she just watched Maria step even closer. She felt Maria cup her right cheek and brush her thumb along the skin. The touch was warm but something was missing Lara couldn't figure it out since her head felt like it was going to explode. Maria moved her hand behind Lara's neck to pull her closer.

My head…The touch is warm…nice but there is something missing…shit…I need something for this headache…she is playing with my hair now…it feels funny…god this headache needs to go away…I wish she would move closer…I should ask Sam if she has any aspirin…fuck SAM!...

Images of Sam flashed through Lara's mind: their first kiss, their first time, the I love yous, Sam laughing…

Lara snapped her hands up and pushed Maria back by her shoulders when their faces were mere inches from touching.

"STOP!" Lara snapped. Maria was shocked; Lara dropped her hands and took several steps backwards away from her. "This isn't happening…your beautiful but not worth it."

"What?" Maria snapped back

"You're not worth losing the greatest thing that has walked into my life. I love my girlfriend and I'm not going to risk losing her by kissing you. So do me a favor and stop with the advances because you're not going to get anywhere with them." With that Lara walked away rubbing her temples. Maria glared at her retreating form.

Sam saw the whole thing. She jumped up and started towards them when she saw Maria pull Lara's face towards hers but stopped in her tracks when she saw Lara push Maria away. Based on Maria's expression Sam could guess that Lara was rejecting her and couldn't help the smile that formed on her face when she watched Lara walk away.

Nothing but a pretty face…guess I have something that you don't…wait I've got two things that you don't have: Lara and whatever is keeping Lara interested. This bitch needs to be put into her place and needs to back off.

Lara walked over towards where Sam was and just stood in front of her. "How much did you see?" Lara asked

"Everything" Sam said. Lara had her head down and wouldn't meet Sam's eyes.

"I wouldn't cheat on you." Lara started "She is pretty but you're so much more…Sam I love you and I'm sorry."

"For what?" Sam asked. Lara looked up confused. "You didn't do anything as far as I am concerned, you didn't kiss her you pushed her away. I wasn't worried about you cheating on me but I didn't like her making a move on my girlfriend." Sam moved towards Lara and cupped her cheek the same way Maria had but Sam's touch was inviting and comforting, Sam was that missing aspect that Maria lacked. Lara grabbed Sam's waist and pulled her closer into a deep and passionate kiss. Lara pulled away and buried her face in Sam's neck. Sam looked over Lara's shoulder, saw Maria glaring at them. Sam smirked at her and gave her the middle finger.

Okay I won't have an update in the next few days because I have a research paper due Thursday that I haven't even started yet and really need to focus on. Hopefully this chapter was better, my last one was kind of a lame one because I've been distracted by the events going on in my city and family matters; and I was stuck on what to write for the chapter at the time.