Disclaimer: I do not own the characters of Lara Croft or Sam Nishimura

Author's Note: This is the maybe penultimate chapter depending how things go... There will be an epilogue too, if so desired by a number of you, so let me know what you think of this chapter by reviewing or PMing! I hope the wait was worth it.

Lara rose from her seat and made her way to the door that led off from the café and into the corridor that led to Harvey's office. She opened the door slowly, nodding at the staff at the cash register to prove she was doing nothing suspicious. Going through to the corridor with caution, Lara made sure to absorb the scene with her eyes, checking every nook and cranny within a couple of seconds, ensuring there was nobody waiting for her. As she scanned the scene, something caught her eye; it was the stout, Greek style vase that she had discovered only days ago. Something looked different. Lara stepped over the threshold of the door and stepped towards it, squinting. Then she realised- it had been turned upside down. Lara couldn't see any reason for this, but decided it could perhaps be the result of someone moving the vase. Lifting it in her hand, Lara found a folded piece of paper. It read: if you go down to the woods today you'd better not go alone.

"This vase," Lara whispered. "There's something about this vase."

Lara could stand there no longer. Just like last time, she felt a surge of familiarity at the sight of the design and knew she must consult the book she had seen such a design in.

Arriving at the library with the vase in hand, Lara walked in quietly and found the book on modern mythology in which she had previously seen the vase. Flicking through it, Lara kept her eye out for the picture and found it on page 111. The picture featured an identical vase and was surrounded by text. At the top of the page, the name of the chapter was printed in italics: Myths in the media. Under this, in much larger and bolder text was the title of this myth: Slenderman.

Slenderman, thought Lara. He's the guy from those video games. I must be on the right track.

Lara read on:

Slenderman is a fictional character, best known for his appearance in the Slenderman computer game series. Originating from a photo editing competition, the franchise grew as more people became aware of his existence and started creating fictional stories and video games. The myth states that Slenderman can be found in forest areas as he waits for children to cross his path before brutally killing them with his numerous arms. The video game often requires the player to collect a number of pages that are pinned to trees before Slenderman finds them. His approach is made known by the crackle of white noise.

Lara's eyebrows raised victoriously; she had instantly made the connection with the passage and the notes, both of which included the mention of woods. That had to be where Cow Blood had taken Sam. Only moments later, Lara made another connection: the Skype name. SM must stand for Slenderman. It all made sense. She had to go to the woods and play the game if she wanted to get Sam.

It all seems too simple, Lara thought. It's too easy.

Skipping over the next paragraph in the book, Lara's eyes were drawn to another picture. It was a tall, white figure with no face. He wore a black suit and had a wooded background surrounding him. Eying the vase again, Lara realised the design depicted him, a slender figure bending down to take hold of a child. Harvey had lied to her. It wasn't a mother looking after her child at all. Still, Lara had bigger things to worry about.

Much to the annoyance of the librarian, she left the book open on her desk and left the library. Lara knew her way to the nearest woods, so she got in her car and set off. As she neared the halfway mark, she realised her hands had started to shake and her pulse was speeding up. She wasn't scared of this game, of Slenderman. She wasn't even that scared of Cow Blood. She was just scared this wouldn't be the end. Despite the notes telling Lara that this would be the final task, she found it hard to believe. If she did manage to win the game and rescue Sam, would Cow Blood accept it? Would he be able to keep to his word or would he take back what he said and torment her even further. The thought of this made Lara realise how little she cared about her own wellbeing right now. If she died in a battle between him and herself, wouldn't she be better off? Surely this torture was worse than any kind of afterlife that may lie ahead. Yet thinking these things gave Lara a twinge of anger. Letting him win seemed worse than anything else right now. This had become some kind of competition. It wasn't about Lara anymore. It wasn't even about Sam. It was about showing this monster who was in charge here.

Lara pulled into the car park that had been built for the woods. In recent weeks when Lara and Sam had come here for picnics, there had always been the parked cars of hikers or dog walkers in this car park and sometimes even an ice cream van had pitched up here. Now, however, the scene was baron and as Lara left her car behind and entered the woods she found out why. There was a sign at the entrance to the woods that turned people away. It read 'We are sorry to announce that Foxhill Woods is undergoing reconstruction to improve the pathways and nature trails. Sorry for any inconvenience caused'.

"Likely story," Lara muttered as she clambered under the red and white striped tape that had been tied between two trees as an attempt to keep people out.

Lara had to admit it was eerie in here. The morning sunlight fell between the leaves in the trees in a way that would normally feel pleasant and welcoming. In fact, she knew first hand that on other occasions this had been a characteristic of significant beauty for the woods. Yet today, it only amplified the silence to a rattling buzz as it bounced around the trees. Despite often bearing a somewhat serene atmosphere disturbed only by nature itself, the lack of people transformed the tranquillity to a chasm of stillness and isolation. It made Lara want to leave.

Lara followed the semi-familiar path deeper into the woods where nobody, unless in the woods themselves, would be able to see or hear anything going on there. She figured Cow Blood would be keen to play this game out of the way of the public. As Lara arrived in the area where the trees grew in number and the bushes grew in thickness, she found an A4 piece of paper stapled to a tree with a wide trunk. As she approached it, she noticed the paper wasn't laminated and couldn't help but think of how impractical this was, given that the weather could turn and decide to rain.

Then again, Lara thought. You're not in England anymore.

Lara stopped at the bottom of the trunk and raised up onto her tiptoes to read the note- it had been placed much too high for her eye line. At the top of the page, it read in bold letters: Lara. Read this page aloud.

Lara didn't think twice.

"Hello Lara. By now you have worked out the clues to the final game: Slenderman. I am sure you are familiar with the game, but here is an overview of the task that lies ahead. Sam is with me and my men. In order to reach her, you must search the woods for eight pages that look similar to this one. They are all pinned to trees in the thick of the woods. This must be achieved before Slenderman finds you. If he finds you, you will hear this-"

Lara was cut off as white noise was played through speakers high up in the trees. When the noise stopped she continued.

"At this point, you will have only moments to look around you and locate Slender's whereabouts before running away. As he gets closer, the noise will grow louder. As you escape, the noise will die down to silence. If you don't escape, you will be killed…"

Lara broke off, disheartened, but continued after a moment or two.

"On finding the eighth page, a man will be sent to escort you to Sam's location. This will not be done forcefully unless it needs to be. Should you want to give up on the task at any point, you may leave the woods whereupon Sam will be instantly killed. You won't come into contact with us again. I will now give you ten seconds in which you may ask questions should you have any."

Lara frowned and rolled back onto her heels. This was crazy. Absolutely crazy. She was scared. She knew Slenderman wouldn't be able to kill her like he does in the stories, but she didn't doubt that whoever was playing him wouldn't hesitate to kill her. Lara wanted to leave. But she knew that wasn't an option.

After ten seconds a claxon sounded. Suddenly, the sunlight that streamed through the trees disappeared and Lara was plunged into pitch black. The light must have been artificial.

The speakers crackled momentarily and Lara jumped, automatically assuming it was Slender. But a moment later, Cow Blood's voice came through.

"You may begin."