Chapter 6: Crazy?
Okay! So I had to get a new laptop. The screen damage repair would've cost me the same as a new laptop. So I opted for an upgrade! And I'm back! I've posted this a bit early in the schedule.
I don't own anything. Resident Evil belongs to Capcom and Tomb Raider belongs to Core Design, Crystal Dynamics, and I think Square Enix. The only thing I own is the changes made to the stories of the Tomb Raider games/comics and Resident Evil games/comics/CG movies, the persion that has taken over Kathrine Warren's life, and Rose Warren. This story also will be bloody, violent, and have curseing. It's rated T for Teen. Enjoy!
Country: Philippine Sea, State: South of Japan, City: Dragon's Triangle, Place: Yamatai, Area: Village Plateau, Month: August, Day: Tuesday 18th, Year: 1998, Time: 8:35 PM…
Kat was next to Lara when Roth called out to them.
"You might want to give that axe a go on the rock wall over there first." Roth recommended.
The two walked over to the rock wall. Lara looked to Kat. She looked down, but in a different way than when they had stopped for camp prior to finding Roth. This was definitely different.
"Are you okay? Was it something Roth said?" Lara asked worriedly.
Kat looked to Lara. That year they dated made it so it was hard for Kat to hide anything from her. "The…" She shook her head; she couldn't tell Lara yet. "I'll…tell you later."
Lara shook her head as they reached the wall. "'I'll tell you later' with you means never. Talk to me, Kathrine."
Kat looked to a resting Roth and then leaned on the wall. "I've told Roth this…." She sighed closing her eyes. "You'll be the second person I've told. I was reincarnated. I have memories of another life, in another life I had knowledge of things that are of the future in this life. I started keeping track of it and stuff just kept happening that happened in those memories." She looked to Lara. "The shipwreck was one of them." She admitted.
Lara sighed shaking her head. "Kathrine. I'm sure it's just dreams like you said before."
Kat shook her head. "I said it was dreams because I don't know how to tell people I know what's going to happen." She told her. "We get to the base, there's resistance, we get to the tower, we have to climb it, we get a call out, and the plane comes after we give it a signal, the sky was clear, but a storm comes out of nowhere, and the plane is struck down as a voice speaks in Japanese." She told her sounding more desperate for Lara to believe her.
Lara was silent and shook her head after a moment. "Maybe you should stay with Roth and get some rest."
Kat sighed and shook her head. "Lara, I'm not crazy or sleep deprived. I know what I know. This all will happen."
Lara sighed. "Look, I get it, this is all stressful and you want to get back to Rose. But reincarnation, visions, dreams, whatever of the future is myth."
Kat shook her head. Taking out the pry axe and slammed it into the wall. "Let's get moving…please."
Lara sighed shaking her head. She knew that Kat was stubborn and would stick to her opinion until proven otherwise. She took out her climbing axe and sank it into the wall. They scaled the wall in silence, then crossed a plane wing, and started climbing a few other walls. Kat found that the pry axe really was not built for climbing like this, but it was better than just sitting around or having Lara drop a rope or the climbing axe to her. They crossed a bridge and then climbed up another wall, freezing when they heard voices.
"Hey, you find anything?"
The two share a look as Kat's arms shook from gripping the wall. They pulled themselves over the edge and ducked behind some cover just as lightning flashed and thunder crashed.
"No! Nothing!"
"What!?"
Lara swapped her gun for her bow as Kat spotted something one of the men held.
"Nothing! There's no one up here!"
Kat lightly tapped Lara and nodded at the man. Lara looked over to the man who walked around under some shelter from the rain on their right. He held not a gun, but a crossbow and had a hip quiver on his belt filled with bolts.
"They never make it up this far!"
Lara nodded but leaned in close. "Have to take out the two on the left first." She breathed quietly.
"Should we head back up to the bunker?"
Kat nodded as Lara nocked and arrow and turned to the left, aiming at a lantern. One that was above them.
"Nah! Let's wait out the storm!"
Kat shook her head, signaling Lara to wait.
"Got it!"
"Stay alert!"
"Let's move inside!"
"The lamp will get all their attention, and then we'll be in a fire fight." Kat whispered.
Looking to the two men Lara nodded. She pivoted to the right and aimed at the crossbow man. He was sitting in a chair by an open window with no glass. She then tightened the string and loosed. Dead on head shot and he was down, slumped with an arrow in his skull. Kat nodded at the other two men and jumped the gap to get to the downed man.
Lara pivoted back to the left as Kat snatched up the crossbow and took aim with a bolt to one of the men. Once Lara loosed her bow at the one on the left, Kat pulled the trigger hitting the one on the right. Both fell to the ground an arrow and bolt to their heads, respectively.
Kat looked to the crate next to the man next to her and found another scrap of an ancient scroll. She waved Lara over. Lara jumped over and they both read over the old script.
I have spoken to some of the villagers on the island. I was expressly forbidden to leave the palace, but this did not stop me. My duties here are clear, I must learn the truth! But the stories I uncovered defy belief.
Rumors abound of the Queen's communion with the spiritual world. They say she commands the sun and the rain, that her lands are abundant by her will alone. This is certainly nonsense, but what can be the cause of such whispers? Is this how she controls her people, by engaging their primitive superstitions?
I saw absolute reverence in their eyes when they spoke of her, yet I also sensed fear. Her people are treated with fairness, taxed reasonably and are well protected by her Stormguard. No wonder some of them even pray to her!
It's as if she were more than just a Queen to them. Spreading discontent through her people may well be a harder task than I imagined.
"The ambassador uncovered a mystery surrounding the Sun Queen. It seems she had some kind of unnatural hold over her people." Lara muttered as Kat unclipped the hip quiver from the body and clipped it to her belt.
Kat said nothing as Lara tucked the page away. 'Or she was a crazy mutant. Wow, if I find out somehow that Marvel is here too, I wouldn't be surprised.' She thought and snorted.
"What's funny?" Lara asked her confused.
"Just remembered a funny moment in a movie." Kat smiled.
"What movie?" Lara asked curiously.
"Practical Magic." Kat grinned. "There was a drunken scene, it was pretty funny."
"That's the witch film with Sandra Bullock and Nicole Kidman, right?" Lara asked as they moved to search the men's bodies.
"Yeah. I loved it." Kat smiled.
"You loved The Craft, the Harry Potter books, and Buffy the Vampire Slayer." Lara pointed out. "And that new witch show you're obsessed with. What was it called?" She asked grinning at Kat's clear love of magic.
"Charmed." Kat told her as they climbed up to an upper part of the building. "And my Daughter loves Harry Potter." Kat sighed as she gripped her locket. "She wants to dress up as Hermine this year."
Lara smiled and robbed Kat's arm. "She will, and you'll see her in that Gryffindor robe."
Kat nodded and tucked the locket under her shirt. "I know that…"
Lara nodded and looked to a box. Inside was an ancient mortar and pestle. It was too big to take with them unfortunately, so they turned away. They out their axes and moved to the walls by the waterfall. They climbed a few walls until they pulled themselves on a rotting and unstable bridge.
They felt the bridge jolt signaling the approaching collapse. Lara and Kat stumbled before they bolted across the bridge. They felt and heard the bridge cracking and shifting. At the end and last second, Lara and Kat jumped. The bridge at that same moment collapsed from under their feet as they raised their axes up. The two slammed into the wall, sinking their axes into the stone and securing them to it. They looked down and behind them to watch the broken bridge break apart as it crumpled to pieces as it fell down the waterfall.
The two sagged on the wall, panting. Kat looked to Lara, with wide eyes.
"That was close." She told her. "Way too close."
"Yeah." Lara nodded as they both started climbing up.
Just as they reached the top to pull themselves up, their radios buzzed and crackled.
"Lara, Kat…are you there?" Reyes' voice asked from their radios.
Kat and Lara got to their feet, pulling their radios from their belts. Kat then noted that her belt was pretty full. She had her sat phone, her radio, knife, gun holster, hip pack, hip quiver of crossbow bolts, unlit torch, and the pry axe. Her new weapon was on her back via a carrying strap. She also noted as she and Lara put their radios close to their heads that Lara wasn't as weighted down. Lara just had a belt pack, the climbing axe, gun holster, unlit torch, and radio. On her back was her quiver and makeshift bow.
"Reyes! Did you find Sam?" Lara asked.
"We're still on her trail." Reyes informed them as the pair climbed some stairs.
"We're going to try and send an SOS from an old radio tower up here…and I'll be trying my sat phone." Kat said but Lara heard and saw the worry the Kat emanated with that last statement.
"Any tips?" Lara asked into the radio.
"Hey, ladies!" Alex said from the radio sounding happy to help. "You're gonna need to find the Communications Console." He explained as Lara and Kat stopped walking, standing next to a rope line that would descend into a small valley. "It'll look like a bunch of old switchboards."
"Okay." Kat nodded as she clipped her radio to her belt.
"We'll let you know when we find it." Lara agreed and put her radio to her belt. "Are you okay? You seemed worried about your satellite phone."
"Lara, I told you what I know. I don't want to get Chris involved with this." Kat told her. "Not only that, but he and the other S.T.A.R.S. have their own problems to deal with."
"I'd think a disgraced team rescuing the mayor's daughter and her friends would be great PR." Lara said lightly.
Kat bristled, signaling to Lara that was the wrong thing to say. "Irons is a corrupt asshat that would twist it to suit his and Umbrella's perfect propaganda. They would make it seem like the S.T.A.R.S. were crazy and were the reason for us being missing in the first place." She looked at the rope as she pulled out the pry axe. "Yes, Chris has connections that could help us, but what damage that would do to him, his team and then eventually us?"
Lara shook her head. "You're paranoid."
"Paranoia right now is a good thing." Kat said as Lara pulled out her climbing axe. "Let's get moving and find some shelter for a bit."
Lara sighed and jumped for the rope line and slide down with the axe. Kat jumped after her.
"Hey! Hey! Wake up! Wake up, we got intruders!" A man shouted as he got behind cover while Lara and Kat dropped from the rope.
"Come on, grab them!" Yelled another as Lara and Kat scrambled to cover, drawing bow and crossbow.
"How'd they get up here?" Yelled another as Lara and Kat nocked an arrow and a bolt.
"Please…" Lara called from her cover behind a broken wall or fence. "You don't need to do this!"
"Let 'em try!" Kat growled as she peered around her broken wall cover.
Lara loosed an arrow at a man that had a bow, dropping him as his head picked out and was hit by her arrow. Kat peered out as she took aim at a lamp, only to have to jump to Lara's cover as a Molotov was lobbed at her. The fire burst over the old cover as Kat pulled the trigger of her crossbow, the bolt hitting the lamp and showering flaming oil over the man who had a newly lit Molotov. He yelped in pain and dropped the bottle at his feet in the pained panic. It shattered at his feet splashing the fire onto his person and burning him alive.
Lara loosed one arrow after another into the chest of a man who would step out of his cover to get away from the flames. He dropped as a man ran at them, wielding a machete and a flimsy pry axe. Lara took aim and instantly loosed a new arrow. This one sinking into the man's chest between his throat and ribs. The man gasped and dropped his weapons, reaching for his chest before dropping to the muddy ground. Kat and Lara then both stepped out of cover and loosed/pulled the trigger, sending a bolt and arrow into the face and chest of the last man. He dropped as the two looked around them.
"You okay?" Lara asked lowering her bow slowly.
"Yeah." Kat nodded as she put her crossbow on her back. "You?"
They searched the bodies, getting arrows and bolts before they walked into a cave and exited it through a thin opening. Looking around the area Lara felt a sense of unease.
"I have a—"
"Don't you dare." Kat stated as Lara hugged her arms from the cold that seemingly came out of nowhere. "You say that phrase from Star Wars and bad things happen."
Lara snorted and shook her head as they approached the fire and sat down at the small campsite. "You're a paranoid nerd."
"I'm a geek, and a nerd." Kat chuckled as they sat down to warm up.
For a few moments they stayed silent, the smiles form the jokes fading to darkened expressions from what they had to do. Lara then pulled out Sam's camcorder and opened it, turning it on. She held it between herself and Kat and they watched the next few videos on it.
Third Video…
Reyes was in the engine room fixing up something above them. The camera panned to Alex as he spoke.
"I'm telling you, Reyes, its mechanical…not an electrical problem." Alex stated as he looked over a comic book.
"Now, Alex!" Reyes told him.
The young man sighed and closed his comic, keeping a finger on the page where he stopped. He stepped up to the electrical lever and pulled it. This set off some smoke and sparks. Alex started coughing and waved his comic at the smoke to keep it from going into his lungs more.
He backed up coughing a bit more before speaking. "Uh, this looks like it might be an electrical problem." He admitted.
Reyes stepped off the stepladder and walked over to him. "You think?" She sassed.
Alex rolled his eyes and then saw a picture tucked into the side of one of the electronics. He smiled as her grabbed it and looked at the African American girl it depicted who was with Reyes. "Oh, hello." He smiled looking the girl over. "Hey, who's this little fox, huh?" He joked in a way that showed he was interested.
Reyes raised an eyebrow, mimicking his tone in a mocking way. "Huh, she's cute, huh?" She asked.
"Very cute." He nodded, not catching that she was mocking him.
"That's Alisha." Reyes smiled as she took a corner of the picture.
"Alisha, I like that." He nodded looking to the picture.
Reyes' tone then changed. "That's my daughter." She informed, sounding annoyed yet amused.
"Oh." Alex said looking like he was still interested but a bit worried as he looked to Reyes.
"14 years old…" She told him and took the picture from him and tucking it into her pocket. "And smarter then you'll ever be." She told him, as he looked extremely awkward and maybe a bit embarrassed.
"She must…" Alex began as he swallowed. "Must get that from her father."
Reyes shook her head and looked to Sam who was behind the camera. "Don't give him the attention." She then looked to Alex. "And…yeah."
"I'll take a look at this…" Alex said nervously as he gestured to the electoral problem. "Probably electrical." He said as Reyes left the room. He sighed and turned to the sparks. "From her father…Nice one."
Fourth Video…
Grim was at the table telling Sam a story from his younger days as a captain. "So, I was on the loch, right…" He continued as if Sam had just starting recording and asked him to start over. "Doin' a spot of midnight fishin'."
"Hey, Grim."
The camera panned to Roth as he peered through a door.
"Time to batten down the hatches." Roth told him.
"Aye, I'll be right with you." Grim said and stood up, but still looked to Sam and the camera as it panned back to him. "So…I was on the loch, right…" He said as he grabbed a coat from his locker. "An' this thing come looming at me, looming outta water, it was!" He turned to the camera as he and Sam walk to the door. "So, I give it the old Glasgow kiss. You know…" He chuckled. "Gets you out of trouble nine times out of ten, that dose!" He reached the door and looked back at her. "Took me a week to sleep that night off and I've not touched a drop since!" He then stepped out through the door. "See you at dinner, Sam!" He then vanished from the camera view as Sam stepped out.
Sam stopped, panning, and zooming the camera in on Reyes and Roth, holding hands, smiling and laughing together. Reyes was then pulling Roth into a room chuckling softly as if trying to be quiet. When Roth turned his head and his smile faded, the camera was turned down to the floor and cut out.
Fifth Video…
It was bright and sunny on the top deck of the ship. The sun was starting to set a bit signaling that people were losing daylight. Standing behind a foldable table was Dr. Whitman and Jonah. Both held a fish and a carving knife. Whitman looked uncomfortable and annoyed at the same time.
"Alright, can we take B-Roll please?" Sam asked from off camera, and then she appeared on camera as she handed it to someone else, it had been Steph. "Thank you…" She sighed as the camera showed her stand next to Alex who was handling the much more expensive camera, the kind for a TV show or high budget documentary. Sam crossed her arms and looked to Whitman and Jonah. "Dr. James Whitman, filler 15, take 3. And action."
The camera turned to show Whitman and Jonah at the table again. Jonah looked to Whitman.
"Okay, now take a firm grip," Jonah instructed for the third time, lifting the knife to the fish he held, Whitman seemingly following along, if not nervously. "Then slice him down the belly like this." He sank the tip of the blade into the fish's belly.
Whitman tried to replicate this, the tip of his knife sinking into the belly.
"Yeah, you got it…" Jonah started too soon.
Whitman cut his thumb with the side of the knife, and in pain, the slickness of the fish slipped from his fingers to the table, the knife slipping with it. He growled in frustration, anger, and pain. "Good lord, cut!" He hissed and slapped his hands to the table, making the knife rattle on the plastic. "Cut! Cut!" He backed up with closed fists and then turned from the table. "Cut." He hissed and stormed off to the side in anger.
The camera turned to Sam and Alex. Sam rubbed a temple in clear annoyance, the same annoyance that showed in her diary entry. Alex just looked at her as if looking for guidance.
"Er, is he…" The camera turned back to a nervous and unsure Jonah. "Is he coming back?"
"…I am Dr. James Whitman, I'm an archaeologist…" The camera picked up from Whitman in the background.
Sam sighed in exasperation. "I'll go get him." She said and walked around the table and over to Whitman.
"The World-renowned archaeologist!" Whitman hissed as if it was a mantra to calm himself down from an anger toddler tantrum. "A discoverer!"
"The World-renowned archaeologist," Sam began as she approached Whitman getting him to look at her.
"I don't cut rare breeds of fish!" Whitman told her barely holding back anger.
"Mister, Dr. James Whitman." Sam continued as if she had not heard him. "It's just a fish, its fine." She stressed to him calmly, though a bit of frustration showed in her voice.
"I know it's just a fish!" Whitman hissed to her struggling off her hand as she tried to reach for his shoulder.
"You're gonna be fine…" Sam assured as the camera cut and then showed Whitman back at the table, leaning on it with a bandaged thumb.
"This…damned…'reality' TV business." Whitman stated sounding tired, annoyed, and frustrated. "I'm…I'm meant to be bringing culture to the people, Sam, not dinner!" He stated then looked to Jonah. "Er, no offence, Jonah." He quickly amended.
Sam stood next to him. "The audience demand content, Dr. Whitman." She explained to him. "You know that." She said as his head lowered. "So, until we find the lost kingdom, we need footage like this." She then walked back to stand with Alex, the camera following. "Come on, let's just take it from the top, okay?" She then reached the spot and crossed her arms. "We're going to make you look like Gordan Ramsay in editing." She said as the camera turned back to the Doctor and Jonah, Jonah was smiling as Whitman took up the fish and knife again. "Dr. James Whitman, filler 15, take 4. Action!"
Jonah turned to Whitman with a smile. "Okay, now take a firm grip…" He said showing the technique to Whitman. "And slice him down the belly." He said cutting his fish open. "Like that."
Whitman mimicked him and cut open his fish.
Sixth Video…
The camera showed Kat on the deck near the back of the ship, her hair was down, and she held her satellite phone to her ear, looking into her open locket. Sam smiled.
"I love you…Would you like your lullaby?" Kat's voice said as she tipped her head with a loving expression on her youthful face. "Okay." She took a breath smiling. "If you'll be my star, I'll be your sky. You can hide underneath me and come out at night. When I turn jet black, and you show off your light, I live to let you shine, I live to let you shine." She began singing softly, she wouldn't be winning any singing competition, but it was still nice and soothing to listen to. "But you can skyrocket away from me, and never come back if you find another galaxy, far from here, with more room to fly. Just leave me your stardust to remember you by…"
She paused as if waiting. She smiled but there was a sadness there.
"I love you too, sweetie." Kat smiled as she closed the locket, rubbing the silver oval face.
"Kathrine is a great mom. Rose is her world and she'll move heaven and hell to keep her safe." Sam whispered into the camera.
Seventh Video…
The camera panned over the sunset to Lara and Roth as they came out on to the lower outer deck.
"I've studied them so much; I can see charts on the back of my eyelids." Lara joked to Roth. "But if I'm not right about Yamatai being in the Dragon's Triangle…" She said sounding deeply worried and showing that Kat supported her idea.
"I remember when you found that on one of your father's digs." Roth smiled nodding at Lara's jade pendent. "You ran up and showed it to me dressed in your penguin pajamas." He said as Lara laughed as she rubbed at her pendent.
"I was five years old!" She laughed. "It was my first find."
They both leaned on the railing of the ship sighing as they stopped laughing, reminiscing on the lovely memory.
"You've got great instincts, girl." Roth smiled with pride. "You just have to trust them."
Lara looked down at her hands. "That's what my father used to say." She sighed.
"Now there was a man who ran on instinct…" Roth nodded sagely. "For better or worse…" He sighed and looked to Lara from the orangey sea. "He would have been so proud of you, Lara."
Lara sighed looking to Roth. "We're getting closer to the storm." She told him.
"Well," Roth said and squeezed her shoulder in comfort. "Whatever's coming, we'll get through it, eh?"
Sam zoomed out and then turned the camera to the horizon. Showing a gathering storm.
End of Videos…
Lara sighed and turned off the camera and put it back in her belt pouch. She looked to Kat seeing her rubbing at her locket. "I'm so sorry that we came here…"
Kat shook her head. "Need it. The experience."
Lara shook her head. "No, no one needs this." She then pulled out her journal and a pen.
Kat following suit and they made their third entries.
Thank god for Roth's training. All those treks, all those climbs...It's as if he'd been preparing me for something like this all along.
It's clear that there are people living here. And they're organized. They're killing and recruiting, but why? It's like some kind of cult. But a cult of what? What do they want? What are they looking for?
Kat is really worrying me. She's said she's had dreams of the ship going down, but that's normel for people who've never been on a ship before. However, she's now saying she knows things will happen, that she was reincarnated and had memories of the events. I think we're all stressed. This island would do that to anyone. She just misses her daughter. I would too if I were in her shoes.
Lara looked to Kat with worry. Everything she had said concerned her. Maybe the island was getting to her friend more than she was letting on.
I've told Roth and Lara both. About my reincarnation. Not all of it. If I told them that the memories I have of them and the events were from a video game in my old life, they would think I'm crazier then they think I am now. Lara thinks I'm just stressed, and Roth seems to believe but wants proof.
I've told them both of the plane that will come, about the storm that will take it down. Roth knows that I'm scared for Chris's safety if I call him. Maybe I'll call Chris, but It'll only be for him to tell Jill to keep an eye on my daughter and Sherry for me. I can't have any of the S.T.A.R.S. try to come here. But Lara and Roth don't get that. They won't get it.
Once the plane gose down…they might come around to the idea more. I'll keep the video game parts to myself for now, but the events themselves, I'll tell them. I trust Roth and Lara. They are like family.
Kat sighed and looked to Lara. "Please believe me."
Lara sighed as she put her journal away. "Look, Kat, this island, the men we've killed, the men that've tried to kill us, and the nightmares you've had with Irons, you're just stressed and…" Lara stopped as she realized what she was most worried about. "You could be close to a psychotic break."
Kat stared at her with hurt eyes that were also wide with shock. "I'm nowhere near a break." She told her. "When it starts snowing, would you believe me?"
Lara frowned. "Kathrine…Maybe—"
"No. Don't tell me to say on the side lines. I'm coming with you. We will get to that tower." Kat swore.
Lara sighed, still worried. "Okay, they're counting on us."
Kat nodded as they opened an item box. They sorted things within and then put the pages they had collected into it. Lara pulled out an old Japanese bronze coin from the 19th Country and popped into the box. Once the ammo was sorted, they closed the box and turned for the path. Just then, they heard voices.
"It's freezing out here!"
Lara and Kat ducked down into crouches, pulling out their crossbow and bow.
"You'll get used to it. It's even colder up by the radio tower."
They two ducked behind a broken-down jeep and peered around the side. They could see a spotlight.
"The weather on this island is crazy."
Kat and Lara got back behind the cover and Kat popped a bolt into her crossbow. She counted to three and peered out of cover again.
"Everything about this island is crazy, brother."
"Hey, get that gun off me!"
Kat took carful aim at the light. Then she pulled the trigger. The bolt flew and hit the blob, breaking it and letting darkness rain. Kat ducked back into cover with Lara, both nocking a bolt and arrow.
"Aw, damn it!"
"It burnt out again!"
"Not exactly…" Kat muttered as Lara drew her bow back and took aim.
"Surprised they even work after so many years."
Lara loosed her string, hand falling back as the arrow flew. It embedded itself in the back of the head of the man closet to them. He dropped to the ground without a sound.
"Gonna go check – need anything?"
Kat took aim at a guy by some fire and pulled the trigger of her crossbow.
"Nah, I'm good!"
The bolt hit the man's head, dropping him like the one Lara had shot. The pair then moved to closer cover, nocking a new bolt and arrow. Lara took out one on the right and Kat the one on the left. Then Lara loosed an arrow at a man by a campfire. All were chest hits; all men went down easily. The pair searched the bodies before moving on.
They stepped into the bunker and ducked to either side of the door. They peered around seeing a man working on welding some sheet metal. Lara walked slowly up behind him, tucking her arrow back into her quiver. Once behind him, she stood up straight and used her bow to choke him to death from behind. They passed his corpse and up some stairs, Kat put her crossbow to her back and pulled her knife.
Lara loosed an arrow at a man farther down the upper path as Kat got behind the guy closer to them. She wrapped a hand around his mouth and slit his throat quickly. He gurgled as she lowered him to the ground. They continued along the path ducking behind a wall and carefully peered around the edge as a lit light bulb swayed above them. A bolt and arrow flew into the two men's heads from around the door frame. Both dropped as Lara and Kat jumped over the broken bridge. They climbed up the rusted stairs lined with barbed wire, as Lara looked around, she noticed it.
"This bunker…World War Two era." Lara stated lightly to Kat.
"Most likely Japanese." Kat agreed as they got to the top and saw a rope line leading down below.
"Are you sure you—"
"Lara, yes I am." Kat interrupted slinging her crossbow and getting out her pry axe.
Lara sighed but pulled out her climbing axe and jumped onto the rope, sliding down it. She landed in a large pool of water inside of a building. She grimmest and shook the dark dirty water off her hands, before wading forward a few feet before feeling water splash over her as Kat landed in the spot she had.
"Uhhhg, gross. I don't want to know what's in this." Kat grumbled.
"Over here!"
Lara and Kat froze a moment in the brown colored water that had a moldy bitter smell. Now that they both looked around as the men spoke, they saw that what polluted the water could very well be the hanging bodies.
"Alright, let's get these lines hooked up. The brothers inside need power."
Lara pulled her bow from her back, nocking an arrow as Kat did the same with her crossbow and a bolt.
"Ah…it's freezing." Lara whispered to Kat as they slowly waded to a bit of stairs.
"I know…" Kat hissed through her gritted teeth as she heard the men talking again.
"Ow…fuck!"
"You okay?"
"Fine…fine! Just do the job."
By then both Lara and Kat got out of the water and on the concrete steps. They got to the second set of steps; half crouched.
"How many came in from the new wreak?"
They reached the top, looking around they saw a door, a cracked open wall, methane gas pumping through the hole, and a wheel valve.
"A couple dozen…and some women. Father Mathias brought one in himself."
"For the ritual?"
Lara swapped her bow and arrow for her climbing axe and slammed it into the open parts of the wheel. With all her strength, Lara turned the valve. The valve then snapped to the side. For a moment, Lara and Kat panicked, but the gas started to disappear, and they calmed down as the men talked.
"Probability. We'll find out tonight."
The pair then crouched and moved through the hole, as the door had no knob. Once out the other side they found themselves in a small room with a long glass window, lots of pipes and an open door. They moved to the door as they heard strained grunting, like someone moving something heavy.
"Careful, careful…it's full of fuel."
"Yeah…"
Lara peered around the corner with Kat. They could see two men at that moment.
"No, shit!"
Lara then saw that between them was a barrel.
"What do they need it for?"
"Generator, probably…for the tower."
Lara quickly swapped her bow for her handgun and pulled the trigger at the barrel. The barrel exploded in fire, sending the two men flying. Both hit the ground dead and the explosion alerted the other men. Kat stepped out into the open, waiting. A man came out to duck behind cover, only to have a bolt hit him in the throat, dropping him.
No one else came out. Lara looked to Kat as she came out.
"That was a nice shot." Lara told her.
"I was aiming for his head…" Kat told her as she moved to the back of the hallway.
They climbed the stairs and just as they started moving down the hallway, a sheet of metal flew across the hall and a man jumped through following it to the floor. Gun still out; Lara fired two shots, hitting his legs and stomach. Kat pulled the trigger of her crossbow, swapping after for her knife. The blot hit him in the chest, but he was still standing. Kat rushed at him growling a yell and slammed her knife into the side of his neck, twisting it before pulling it out and shoving his gurgling corpse away.
She felt his blood on her hands and shook her head. "I'm…gonna have nightmares after this…" She stated as she whipped her knife off on the man's coat.
Lara nodded. "Yeah…just a few."
They then jumped through the open vet in the wall and down into a large room with a glass window that spanned the length of the room. There were also oil lamps all over the room. Above the glass window was an open vent with the grate hanging by a thread. Painted on a bit of sheet metal were the words 'No One Leaves'. Kat walked over to the metal and looked at the candles and paint.
"No one leaves…" She muttered remembering that that was what Himiko shouted in Japanese.
"That glass looks weak." Lara observed looking to the glass. "I'm going to check something, stay here."
Kat nodded as Lara climbed up a metal box. Lara then jumped up and puller herself through the now open vent. She then pushed off and dropped down into the room. It looked like a server room from a time when computers were very new. She saw some pipes and a valve to the side. She walked over seeing that it was leaking the same gas as the hole she and Kat had gone through at one point. Lara also saw white paint on the walls. The words 'No Escape' was on the wall and white handprints.
Lara pulled her climbing axe from her belt and started working the valve off. If she could fill this room with the gas, she could get out and throw one of the oil lamps in and hopefully set off an explosion, breaking the glass and allowing her and Kat to go through. With a metal whine and crack, the valve broke off. She sighed and backed up from it. She then turned at hearing a door open from the next room. She spotted a man as he entered the room. He spotted her and fired a shot at her cracking the glass.
"Lara!" Kat yelped as the man ran into the room. "Get outta there!"
"There's nowhere to run, outsider!" The man yelled as he ran toward the glass, raising the butt of his rifle to smash it on the glass.
"What the hell…" Lara gasped at him.
"Lara, come on!" Kat yelled as she turned away grabbing up one of the lamps.
"I'm gonna watch you die now!" The man yelled as he continued to try to smash the glass but was having zero luck since the glass was the kind that had wire mesh between the two thin planes of glass. "Don't fight it!"
Lara jumped onto a metal box, jumped, while coughing, to the vent, and climbed out. She dropped back down as the man yelled to both as the room filled with gas.
"Where are you going!?"
Lara ran to Kat as the gas filled the room completely. Kat then threw the lamp into the room through the vent. Kat and Lara turned to run.
"Hey…what do you think you're doing?!"
The lamp hit the floor. The gas ignited from the flaming oil and an explosion rocked the area, glass flying, white fire swooshed, and a shockwave sent Lara, Kat, and the man flying with debris. After a moment, Kat and Lara stood from the floor. Lara glared at the smoking room and now cleared glass windows.
"Go to hell." She hissed lowly.
"Shit…that hurt more than I thought." Kat groaned as she rubbed her head.
"Let's go." Lara told her as they walked through the broken smoking wall.
Once on the other side of the completely room that still had pockets of flaming debris and hazy with smoke, Lara spotted the man that tried to get at her. He was under some rubble and pushed up against the wall by the open door he had entered in the first place. Slowly they approached and Lara kneeled, picking up the machine gun, realizing it wasn't a rifle he'd been hitting the glass with. She looked it over and held it to check the sights.
"Please…end it…" The man rasped in pain before coughing on his own blood.
Lara looked at him a moment and saw that it would be merciful. He was going to bleed out painfully if they didn't kill him. Lara lifted her new machine gun and aimed at his head. She pulled the trigger once. His head exploded from the impact, spilling blood on the wall behind him. They then entered the room through the door. In the room, they found another diary page.
Expedition Field Report:
Despite loss of two cargo ships to intense storms, the expedition has made landfall. We have established a communications center high in the mountains and coastal base construction has commenced. Initial surveys have revealed several possible excavation sites.
The island is much larger than we originally anticipated and layered with many centuries of history. The task of identifying the source of the storms will be long and arduous, but if we succeed in our mission here, our victory in this war will be certain.
"An old World War Two field report. The Axis powers came here to study the storms. What did they find?" Lara asked looking to Kat.
"Nothing good…just death." Kat said cryptically.
Kat looked to another wall painting that read 'No One Leaves' over a painting of an airplane. Lara looked at her friend growing more concerned by the minute. Kat was so different to how she was when they had first met, to when they had dated, or when they broke up, and when she was on the ship. When they first met, Kat was just as shy as she was. When they dated, Kat was both dominant and submissive to Lara but also seemed to live in the moment. When they broke up, it was as if they found a sisterhood and again lived in the moment. Nevertheless, it seemed like something had changed on the ship, like Kat was in between one place and another.
They walked through a doorway, finding another message on the wall. It read 'Brothers of the Sun'. Seeing the words, and their situation made Lara wonder just how much Kat would change at the end, how much she would change. Would they ever be the same?
Then entered the pitch-dark room and…
"NOW! Light 'em up!"
Lara and Kat gasped in pain as the crackling white light that blinded them both trashing their night vision. It was from three spotlights maned by the men. Lara was first to recover and blinked rapidly, lifting the machine gun. She pulled the trigger, the gun rocketing in her tight arms, hammering her shoulder as she killed one man that was running at her and Kat with pry axes in either hand. He dropped and Lara changed targets as Kat recovered her sight.
Lara pulled the trigger again as Kat drew her handgun and aimed at a man with a bow. One after another almost in slow motion, the men dropped at the two women's hands, their guns and the men's pain the only sounds in the room.
"She has a machine gun…get down!" They heard as the ones still standing dove for cover.
Lara and Kat continued to rain down bullets, reloading quickly and efficiently as if trained.
"They're tearing us to pieces! Help us out!"
"Use the old consoles as cover!"
Lara and Kat carefully ducked arrows and bottles of lit oil. Lara ran out of ammo for the machine gun and switched to her handgun that had been upgraded with an extended magazine. One last shot to a Molotov that a man held, and the firefight was over. After a moment, the pair moved down the stairs, calmly, laser focused on every detail. The spotlights had put them both on edge and now reminded them to stay quiet and keep an eye out for more cultists. Yes. That made sense. These men were very clearly part of a sick cult, so that is what they both agreed to call them. They moved to each body and ammo box, taking the ammo from them before looking at two different ways.
The way that had the words 'Embrace the Flames' painted in white above the archway and one that had some stairs. They walked to the stairs and turned the corner as they climbed them. A vent above them crashed open and a man dropped down. Kat was ready and fired a shot into his chest as he dropped. He fell to the ground grasping at his chest as she walked over.
"Go to hell." She stated, just as coldly as Lara had before she pulled the trigger, killing him with a close-range head shot.
They spotted another set of painted words 'No Escape'. Lara chose to ignore it as she and Kat walked to a steal door. Kat holstered her gun and pulled out her pry axe, using the same method Lara had with other doors. She slammed the point into the lock and worked it side to side backwards and forwards. With a whining crack, the lock popped off and flew to the floor, kicking up dust. They then stepped into the room and it was just as Alex told them. A wall of old switchboards, buttons levers.
Kat realized then that this could very well end up being a puzzle in Resident Evil, considering that both worlds had somehow merged in her renunciation. But just in case… "None of this is going to work. It's been years and I severely doubt that these cultists know how to fix this."
Lara slipped the machine gun in a rig next to her back quiver and shook her head. "Have some faith. It could work." She told her as she walked to the panels, pushing dried dead leaves off the surface.
Lara then griped a lever and pulled it, only for a grinding crack to sound and for the lever to come off from its mechanism.
"What did I say about it being old?" Kat asked as she pulled her radio from her belt.
"Shut up." Lara stated as she pulled her radio too.
"Kat and Lara to Alex, do you read? Over." Kat stated.
Heavy out of breath breathing came through after a moment. "Yeah."
"The console's a wreck." Lara reported as she shook her head looking at the now hunk of junk.
An annoyed sigh was released. "Damn it. Well, unless either of you see a Radio Shack around, one of you'll have to patch in manually through the maintenance panel."
Lara nodded looking around them as Kat shook her head. "Okay, that sounds simple enough."
"Not exactly." Kat muttered.
Lara frowned as Alex started speaking again.
"Yeah, well, uh…" Alex began as Kat pointed up. "You're going to have to find it first." He said as Kat mouthed 'remember what I told you'. "On those old towers they installed the panels high up,"
Lara turned to where Kat was pointing and saw through the shattered roof, the radio tower and its blinking red light.
"I mean way high up." Alex said as Lara looked at Kat, more annoyed then surprised.
"Climbing again." Lara said annoyed, she didn't like that Kat made a current assumption. "Great." She stated proving she still didn't believe Kat's confession.
"Good luck you two." Alex wished.
"Thanks, Alex. Over and out." Kat said and put her radio to her belt. "You still don't believe me?"
Lara sighed as she put her radio to her belt. "It's not that I don't believe you, but it's a pretty easy assumption to make about the tower." She told her.
"It's going to be cold and snowing." Kat told her and listed the events again from her foggy memory. "We climb the tower, you get the call out, a plan comes, the sky is clear, the sky darkens from a sudden storm, a voice on the wind says 'No One Leaves', lightning hits the plane and it goes down." She stressed as Lara shook her head walking over to a table finding another diary entry. "We have to run as it breaks apart, Lara. That's what happens. I know it does."
'Mathias sacrificed his fellow survivors to learn something new about this island. What kind of twisted man does this?' Lara wondered before turning to Kat. "Kathrine, just stop. Please." She sighed sounding exacerbated. "You're not climbing up to the top with me. The thin air up here is messing with your mind." She sighed as Kat looked like she'd been slapped. "Now…just look at this and try to tell me that this island isn't getting to you."
Kat swallowed and looked at the diary page. It was from Mathis'.
6 September 1982
I am alone now. The rest of them are dead. This is for the best. I watched from the cliffs as their makeshift boat was tossed and turned by the storms. The clouds looked like a hand upon the water, desperately clawing at their doomed boat. None survived the wrath of the storm.
I observed it carefully - the storm was localized and sudden. And just as suddenly it was gone. And this is the most interesting detail: it didn't seem random. I sensed... emotion, something deliberate. I don't know what's happening on this island. Not yet. But if I ever hope to escape, I must understand this phenomenon. Now my real work begins.
Kat looked away from the page. "You think I'm insane…like him?" She asked so to hurt that she couldn't even look at her.
Lara looked down. "I don't know, but you're starting to sound like him."
Kat's jaw set. "I'm trying to change things. I'm trying to…" She felt her hand move to her locket slowly. "Let…let's just move on."