Chapter 15: Retaken
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.
Country: Philippine Sea, State: South of Japan, City: Dragon's Triangle, Place: Yamatai, Area: Research Bunker, Month: August, Day: Wednesday 19th, Year: 1998, Time: 8:42 PM…
Lara pulled the trigger of the ascender and pulled a heavy bit of metal down from a wall of the bunker and it crashed through the ground, making a hole that glowed form inside. Alex was dead. He was gone, and there was no way to recover his body, just like Grim. The only one of their group who died and got the funnel he deserved was Roth. She sighed as she looked to Kat and then they both jumped down into the lower part of the bunker. The room they stood in was some sort of office. Lara approached a desk with Kat and saw it was covered with dead leaves and some papers.
"Old logbooks…" Lara voiced as she grabbed a book and brushed the leaves off.
After picking up one of the books, Kat unbuckled the clasp and opened it, flicking through the pages. Some was of old experiments others was a dairy log of their time at sea. Then she found it.
Months of excavation has at last yielded new information concerning the weather patterns gripping this island. The tomb of an important General dating from the Kamakura period was discovered in our coastal dig site.
This discovery is the missing piece of the puzzle. Finally, it will allow us to gain control of the storm.
Kat handed it to Lara who put it in her pouch. "They found something in the cliffs...an old tomb." She said looking to Lara.
"Ancient ruins in the old base…Control over the storms…" Lara muttered then looked to Kat. "I know it's about Himiko, but…"
"You want the full story." Kat said as Lara pulled out her axe and slammed it into the handle of the rusted door.
"Yeah. I do." Lara nodded then wrenched the door open.
"Since I don't remember the back story…yeah, I wanna know too." Kat agreed.
They walked out when the door banged open and moved to the parts of the base they had been in before. They left the way they came in and got to the large, rusted gun. They broke through a door with the ascender and jumped for the rope line they'd used earlier in the day. They passed through the tunnel again and with the ascender and rope, broke a wall to a new rope line. They jumped it and as they ascended it, heard the Solarii.
"No arguments. Get your shit together, we head out in ten." Said one, as they got closer.
"That place is a fucking deathtrap." Said another as Lara and Kat dropped off the line and moved for cover.
"Yeah, maybe the perfect place for some escaped prisoners to hide out?"
By then Kat snuck up on one guy and she reached up and wrapped a hand over his mouth, pulling his head back she quickly slit his throat and as she lowered him to the ground, she whispered "Join your brothers." It was not the hate-filled words that she was feeling for all that these men had put them through. It was more of a whispered prayer.
"If they went there, they're probably already dead." Said another, not even noticing the death of their comrade or Lara and Kat as they readied their bows.
They took aim at the two men and drew back before losing. Both arrows hit home in their heads, dropping them as the pair jumped the gap to their bodies. They jumped on the rope line and slid by their axes, switching to four different lines before dropping onto the sand not far from their main camp with the others. They ran to the camp and slowed to a walk.
Everyone was gathered by the fire and Reyes met with Lara and Kat at the edge of camp. Lara took out the tools Alex had given them and handed them to Reyes before they approached the fire to see Jonah was cooking fish for them to eat. Sam smiled at seeing them and stood to meet them as they took their weapons from their backs.
"Lara! Kat!" Sam beamed, though she winced as she moved to straighten her midsection.
Whitmen stood too. "When we heard the explosion, we thought…" He trailed off as he looked from one woman to the other but did not see one more of their missing number.
Sam saw it too and looked at Lara sat down with Kat. "Alex?" She asked worriedly.
"He was still on the ship…" Lara said not looking at anyone.
Sam's eyes widened, Whitmen turned away and looked at the sky, and Jonah lowered his head shaking it as he sat back down and tended to their dinner. Sam sat down next to Lara and hugged her with a wince. Reyes however took a seat on the opposite side of the fire and sighed, seeming pissed.
"Seems anyone caught with you has a pretty low survival rate." Reyes sassed.
"Reyes…" Jonah said sharply as Kat gritted her teeth.
"I'm alive, Reyes, or have you forgotten how long I've been around Lara?" Kat gritted.
"Better keep your distance then…" Lara muttered hollowly.
"Let's just eat, okay?" Jonah said as he started passing out the fish on sticks. "Those bastards went quiet, but that doesn't mean they're going to stay that way." He said as everyone took their fish. "If I'm going to die in this place, I'm not going to do it hungry."
"There is no honor in starving." Kat quoted.
Jonah smiled. "Where'd you hear that?" He asked.
"Heard it from a movie once…can't remember which one though." Kat smiled slightly as she peeled some skin of her fish away and took a bite.
"When you remember what movie it was, let me know. I'd like to give it a watch." Jonah smiled as he finished cooking the last of his own fish.
After picking their meal's bones clean and a few more rounds of fish, Lara set to looking at the Logbook she and Kat had taken from the base. Sam and Kat came back out from the bunker after spraying Sam's Tattoo with the first aid spray, to make sure it healed without infection. Jonah leaned back smiling a bit, as he rubbed his stomach.
"Save a man's stomach, save his soul." Jonah said.
"Finally, a little positivity!" Whitmen grinned making Kat and Lara look at him. "Once Reyes finishes that boat, we'll be back to civilization in no time…" he said looking to Lara and Kat as they looked away. "And what a tale we'll have to tell." He stated.
"A tale?" Sam asked as she looked over at him from Lara's side. "I hope to never hear Himiko's name again!" She started, showing how no one was moving to correct Whitmen on that, keeping their true plan a secret.
"We can take the boat out at high tide." Reyes stated as she paused cleaning her gun.
"No." Kat shook her head.
"We can't…!" Lara stated, showing that it was also part of her and Kat's plan, the pair of them would act as though they were the only ones to believe in Himiko, the others would act accordingly.
"Don't start that bullshit again, Lara!" Reyes stated following the act, but there was a part of her, that was not acting.
"Lara isn't the only one who thinks we're trapped, Reyes." Sam said sighing as she leaned forward without pain. "Mathias may be insane, but he was certain about it." She shuttered. "I saw it in his eyes."
"He thinks resurrecting Himiko is the key to getting off this island." Whitmen stated, oblivious to the careful looks the others gave each other.
"God, it sounds crazy." Sam gasped looking to the fire and pressing a hand to her lower chest, where her tattoo resided. "But this whole place is crazy."
"These storms aren't normal." Lara voiced.
"We've gotta face that fact." Kat agreed.
"They're right." Jonah nodded looking from them to Reyes who had set her gun aside. "When the storm hit the Endurance…I felt it…" He paused, his jovial attitude from before gone. "Something dark…something alive." He looked to the fire. "This place is cursed."
Lara took a breath and then stood.
"Where are you going?" Jonah asked.
"There are ruins beneath the old base in the cliffs." Lara stated as she grabbed her gear. "Something in there led them to believe they could control the storms." She said as she started strapping her weapons and gear back on. "I've got to find out what they discovered." She said as Reyes stood.
"Once we're ready to leave, we're leaving." Reyes stated calmly, and Kat genuinely wasn't sure it was part of their act for Whitmen or not. Lara looked back at Reyes. "Whether you're back or not."
Sam stood quickly and turned to Lara. "I won't leave without you."
"We know." Kat said as she gathered her gear. "I'll be Lara's back up. We'll be back before the boat is ready."
Lara nodded then she and Lara left the camp. They did not get too far as Lara stopped Kat. They were far enough out of earshot to not worry about Whitmen.
"We don't really have to go…We can stay here." Lara sighed.
"No…Whitmen thinks that the group is fracturing. He needs to keep thinking that." Kat told her sighing and rubbing her head, hissing as she bumped her properly bandaged temple. "I just wish I knew when he and the Solarii take Sam."
"Then stay here." Lara told her. "Maybe you can stop it."
Kat sighed. "Sam's not going to like it."
"She'll be better with you there." Lara told her. "I'll be fine. Just stay with her. Please."
Kat sighed but nodded. "Okay…" She nodded. She knew Lara was right. If she couldn't remember when Sam was recaptured, then she really should stick with her. "Keep your radio handy."
Lara smiled and nodded.
Lara's POV
Lara loosed her rope arrow at the ropes on the rusty gate door. Once anchored she slipped the rope into the ascender and pulled the trigger. The gate rattled and shook before bowing then breaking open. Lara let go of the trigger and let the rope slip out before climbing the steps and slipping through the gate.
She yawned once before shaking her head. She was starting to feel tired. She knew her reflection back on the ship showed her and Kat's exhaustion, but they did not make note of it before. They couldn't lose focus; they couldn't break down then. She still could not now. At least Kat would get some rest. If Lara could not take the shot because she faints, then Kat can with some proper rest.
She drew her climbing axe and slammed it into the rusted mechanism for the lift that was jammed at the top. Wrenching back and forth and pulling, the lever broke, shooting up sparks as the lift descended into position. Lara looked up as the lift groaned and struggled to do as it was built, but then it fell like the Tower of Terror, sparks flying and breaking apart on the floor.
Lara lowered her arms that she had raised to shield herself as best she could. She then walked over to the back wall. She looked up and saw she could climb it. She jumped up and pulled herself up onto the poles. She climbed up and then stood on the back of the metal wall. She looked up at the cliff wall and then jumped to the wall, grabbing a small handhold, and pulled herself up before pulling out her axe and sinking it into the exposed rock above.
She then slowly made her way up and around the top of the cliff by careful rock climbing. Once at the edge she puller herself up and over. She stood in some ruins of what appeared to be an old outlook base from World War II. It also seemed like it had been occupied twice. Once by Black Umbrella and once by another group. Lara made note of this by some labeled empty boxes.
Lara walked over to the other side and she could see a tower that was falling apart. It had a red light at the top that could only be the flight lights for planes. She sat the post next to her and the rocks. She drew back her rope arrow and loosed. Once it anchored, she tied the rope off on the post next to her. She then jumped onto the line and attached her ascender. She pulled the trigger and zipped across the gap to the rock wall.
She hit the wall, sank her axe into it, and began climbing, jumping small gaps, then climbing up and over the edge. As Lara walked around ruined wall section, she spotted a bit of paper flapping in the wind. She walked over and grabbed it up, finding it was from Whitmen's journal.
This island is more than I could have hoped for. Of course, these islanders are absolutely insane, and those poor people from the Endurance... So tragic. But honestly, it adds to the drama! Not only is this the mythical land of Yamatai, but the shipwrecks... and the modern-day cultists. It warrants at least two documentaries. Maybe even a series!
Good lord, this place is going to ignite the world's imagination! And I'm going to be right in the center of it all. Such a huge relief... all my chips were on this one number. I just need to be careful now. This situation could spin out of control on a dime. Once I have this Mathias fellow's ear, I can convince him that there's much to gain in cooperating.
I mean, he can't honestly believe the things he preaches to these men, right? They're just lost and confused. I'll help to bring them all back to civilization. The sponsors are going to line up for this exclusive! The story is huge!
Her eyes widened. 'Whitman has lost his mind. His obsession with fame and fortune has consumed him. He's worse than what Kat and I thought.' She reached for her radio. 'I have to tell her…' she stopped. 'She might be right next to him…If I radio her now, he could hear. We are all on the same channel too.' She sighed in frustration as she tucked the page away. 'I'll radio her later. Maybe before Whitmen pulls anything. God and to think I ever respected him.'
She then climbed up the ruined wall and stood on a floor of a structure. She jumped from it to the tiny water tower and climbed up. Once she got on top, she ran across and jumped off, reaching for the old yellow ladder. Her fingers wrapped around a rung, and she tightened her grip as her body fell. Hooking her feet on a lower rung, she started climbing up. She came to the end of the ladder and had to jump up onto a pole. She then shimmied around it to the small platform and looked at the gondolas above her.
Lara drew her bow back and took aim at the ropes above the first gondola. She loosed the rope arrow and it hooked into place. She slipped the rope into her ascender and pulled the trigger. She let the trigger go when the gondola was pulled forward and hit its break. Lara pulled the rope away from her ascender and jumped to the gondola, as it was closer for the jump now.
She pulled herself up onto it then repeated what she had just done with the next gondola. She then ran and jumped off it and onto a pipe, which was part of some metal she could use as a makeshift ladder. She looked back and saw that the gondola had fallen from the stress she had put it through and cringed.
'I hope there's another way back down.' she thought as she turned back and started to climb.
Once she was on a platform below her, she ran up a ramp, jumped onto a rope line with her axe, and slid down it. She dropped onto a little out crop and then rushed to a wall and jumped up to a small pipe. She started to shimmy and jump from pipe to pipe. She then got on a ladder and started ascending. Part of the ladder was out, and she climbed the rest of the way with her axe into the rock, until she could swing herself to a ladder on her left and climbed it onto a little path.
As she walked, she felt herself stop and started to sneak as the sound of voices grew louder. She drew her bow and an arrow, walking on the balls of her feet, keeping her heels off the cement.
"What the hell are we doing here?" Asked one. "There's fuckin' Oni in that tomb!"
"Calm down." Said the other as Lara reached cover after climbing the stairs. "We got orders from the man." He said as Lara listened. "No one goes in or out."
The one who was pacing shook his head. "They'll kill anything that sets foot in there." He said inadvertently letting Lara know the danger of entering this tomb.
The other who was crouched by some boxes and fiddling with something laughed. "You have been listening to the O.M.S. crew?"
"Yeah…" The standing one admitted. "They said some guys went in there on a salvage job and never came out!"
Lara had heard enough. Now they were just shooting the shit. She stood and loosed one arrow into one's head then nocked and loose another as the other guy stood to yell. Her arrow sinking into his open mouth, choking him, and killing him as he fell. However, killing them and cutting off their loud conversation alerted the two men above her and they jumped down as Lara switched to her handgun, wishing she had two. Two headshots took them down and she quickly looted the bodies.
Lara jumped up a bit of ruble and onto a pipe. She shimmied around until she was close to the rock wall. She jumped to the rock wall, sank her axe into it, and then climbed up to the edge before standing and walking to a post. She then loosed a rope arrow and tied it off before sliding on her axe down the rope line to another rock wall. A bit more rock climbing and she was on a outcrop and saw the next place to go. A crumbled wall with rope blocked it. She loosed a rope arrow then slipped the rope into her ascender and pulled the trigger. It whirred and pulled until the wall yielded to her and broke. She then jumped for the ladder and climbed it.
She entered the room of this base and found candles flickering within. She slowly walked outside and rounded a corner. She followed the path. As she walked, her mind flickered back to the camp. What were they doing? Was Whitmen talking crazy? Kat sleeping? Was Sam sleeping? Who was keeping watch? She shook her head as she found the end of this hall was a drop off. She jumped to the rock wall in front of her and slowly climbed down with her axe.
Once at the bottom of the wall she found it was a three-foot drop into some water. She let herself drop and splashed as she landed and shook her head. It was cold and woke her up more, making her realize just how sluggish she was prior. She waded through the water in the tunnel until she came to another rock wall. Getting out of the water, she climbed up this rock wall.
She pulled herself up, hiked to a crack in a wall, and slipped through it. She walked to the end and stepped down to the next level and hand to hop off the next. The moment her feet touched down, she heard voices again and moved accordingly.
"Oh shit, look at all these bodies." Said one as Lara drew her bow and silently jogged to cover.
"Keep it down!" Growled another as Lara peered through the doorway.
"The Oni is here!" Hissed the first.
"Yeah, you want 'em to find us?" Asked the second. "Just shut up! And keep your eyes open for the girls."
Lara slipped through the door and moved passed a campfire, knowing it wouldn't be safe to rest until the men were dead. She paused however, finding a diary page from a World War II soldier.
Soon after we discovered the tomb, they came, the Oni, First the lights went out. Then... then the screaming started. Was it us or them? That horrible sound, it still rings in my head. They wore the armor of my ancestors...they, they cut us down with ancient blades.
Gunfire, shouting, blood. We couldn't stop them. Everything turned to chaos. And then silence. They were gone.
Why did they leave? Why didn't they kill us all? Captain Osaka is in command now. We... we are leaving the base, but not the island. We're heading inland, to the Monastery. There is no other way. We must follow the Oni, all of us, if we can't control the star, we must destroy it.
But I know...we...we're all going to die.
'The same soldier. Again, he mentions the Oni. The same thing Kat and I saw in the Monastery.' Lara thought as she put the paper away then took out her axe. 'How are we going to fight them? Aim for the head? I hope so.'
She slipped through a doorway to see both men had their backs to her. She swapped for her bow and nocked an arrow. She loosed it at the back of one man's head dropping him. In the moment, it took him to fall to his knees, Lara and swapped to her axe. The moment he started to fall to his side, Lara cleared the distance to the last man. As the man fell limply to his side with an arrow poking out the front of his forehead, Lara sank her axe into the back of the other guy's head. A small yelp escaped him as she struggled a moment, but when you have an object enter the brain, it is over. She lowered him to the floor and searched him and his buddy's corpse. She stood and walked back to the campfire and took a seat.
She took out the bow parts she had found and started to assemble a Competition level of a compound bow. Once it was all together, she transferred her up grades from her old bow to this one; she looked over the old one. She smiled; Kat could use it. They seemed to be able to pull back that same pound. Moreover, she saw Kat eyeing it she thought with a smile.
She looked at the item box that was there; she still questioned how it was there and slipped the compound bow into it as she put her new one to her back. She then sat back down to clean her axe and then wrote an entry in her journal.
If I'm going to get to the ritual chamber in that monastery, we need to fix that boat. I'm glad I don't have to convince the others to take it inland, rather than off this island, but I'm not sure on Reyes. She wants to get back to her daughter, and she is in pain over Roth. We all are.
I hope we've done enough to protect Sam from Mathias, but it doesn't matter. She's back with us now; she's safe. She's safe hopefully from Himiko too.
She closed her journal after putting the photo of her, Kat, and Sam in it for safekeeping. She then stood up and walked back to the men's bodies. She jumped into the water below them. She gaged at the smell of the rotting tied up corpses on the walls and sides. She waded to the other side and climbed up the ledge that had collapsed long ago.
She saw a console and walked over to it. It had power, which she was shocked with again. She hit the green button. The door opened and just like the lab, she and Kat went in before, the top glitched and the bottom half dropped. She slipped through with her new bow drawn back. She found another lift with stairs next to it that lead down below.
"The tomb must be in the lower levels." Lara muttered as she approached the lift's controls.
She pushed the button and the lift groaned and grinded as it started to slowly descend to her level. But stopped as it locked in place, getting jammed.
'It's jammed.' She thought as walked to a crate and climbed up on it.
She pulled her axe and slammed it into what was jamming the gears and pulled. It groaned then cracked away with metal flying. With the jammed gear gone, the lift continued down and hit the metal that was blocking its full descent.
'Hmmm…I'm on the right track.' She thought looking around as she hopped off the crate. 'Just need to figure out how to drop the lift with more force.'
She jumped onto the lift and jumped up and down a few times before she saw a window in the metal at the back of the lift shaft. She jumped up and onto it before pulling herself through. Once she dropped down, she found herself on a different part of the stairs and was able to go up. She walked up them and found the third level. She pushed the button to call lift there and waited. As she waited, she turned and saw a paper. She walked over and picked it up frowning at what was on it. Some sort of orders.
Command to Operative
STOP
Trinity is concerned.
STOP
Umbrella is concerned.
STOP
Acquisition of Star Phenomenon unacceptable.
STOP
Sabotage of Axis operation imperative.
STOP
Lara frowned at it. "Umbrella…Trinity…They are still interested in this Island? I don't have time to make sense of this now." She muttered as she slipped it in her pouch.
She then dashed around to where another gear was exposed after the lift stopped. With her axe, she snapped a bit of metal from the gear before jumping down from the maintenance platform. She then climbed up some stairs and jumped a broken gap to level four. She pushed the button there to call the lift and waited once more.
"If I get the other safety locks off, then it'll crash through the metal…it's going to be loud." She muttered to her same as she worked to get it done.
She had to call the lift back down to level 3, then call it at 4, then jump onto the lift and run through the newly cleared opening and jump onto a rock wall. All that to get to the third lock and break it away. She just had to get to the last one. She did this by going to level three and climbing a broken ladder to a window and breaking the last lock and gear. The lift screeched suddenly, and the green lights switched to warning red ones.
"That did it." Lara breathed as sparks fired and the lift started to plummet through the shaft.
The lift crashed through the metal block and crumpled on the floor below it. Lara by then had run back down to level two and looked through the opening there for the lift. Dust was settling and the sparks had stopped. She jumped down onto the broken lift and the first level.
"What…what was that?" She heard from nearby and settled into stealth mode. "Hello? Hey! Anyone there?" He called out sounding panicked, as Lara stayed quiet while she drew her bow back and walked to an open collapsed wall.
"Man…fuck this place."
Lara looked around as she walked on the balls of her feet.
"What the hell am I even doing here?"
He was quiet after that and Lara shook her head and walked around to a hallway, seeing two men at the end. It took four arrows, two each, to take them both down. She stood and walked down the hallway, coming out to a big cavern with lights, ancient structures and research scaffolding.
"Alright, this is it." Lara breathed looking around.
She put her bow to her back and walked slowly up some old stone stairs toward the armored skeletal body of a Samurai. As she approached it her radio buzzed and crackled, sounding like someone was trying to call her, but the signal was so bad in the caves that nothing could get through. She turned her radio off as she walked around the body, seeing that his Katana was in his abdomen. She looked around her at the statues.
"These figures…warriors…" She muttered. "They were in Himiko's first body's tomb. They protected her." She turned to where the corpse faced, seeing a Samori holding a sword high in the air to a woman in the sky depicted on the wall, she looked back to the body. "And is this you?" She asked him then looked back at the image. "Were you some kind of general?" she turned back to him and kneeled before him, really looking at the placement of his hands and his sword. "You committed seppuku…But why?" she asked looking to his face as if the bones would reveal his secrets.
She then looked to the old weapon and grasped the handle. She then pulled it from him. The blade was broken in half. Lara held it gently.
"It's beautiful…" She commented as she stood slowly, one hand holding the blade then other the handle.
She squeezed lightly on the blade and hissed. She pulled her hand away and saw small cuts on her fingers.
"Still sharp." She marveled but stopped.
The sword was lighter then ones she had held before. She turned it and found that the handle felt lighter than it should. She looked to the pommel and saw that it looked like it could come off. She opened it and found a small scroll rolled up inside. She pulled it out then slipped the sword into her belt for the moment. She then unrolled the scroll and started to read.
I have failed my queen. The ritual was corrupted. The priestess knew only death could save her and took her own life. Now the first and last Sun Queen lives a half-life, a soul in a decaying body.
She rages in storms, which will never abate while her soul is tied to this earth. My Stormguard are sworn to protect her; they must continue, but I cannot.
Lara lowered the scroll. "Is this some kind of suicide note? It seems the Stormguard General failed his Queen and paid the ultimate price." She stated looking to the body then stiffened as her mind focused on the words. "The soul is trapped in a decaying body…Just like Kat said, Himiko's vengeful soul is causing the storms." She said as she rolled up the scroll and tucked it away. "So, we follow the plan and destroy Himiko's last body. Stopping the storms. But where is the ritual chamber? That has to be where her body is." She said as she pulled out her map. "It's a good thing Kat and I have convinced the others…but how the hell are we going to get rid of Whitmen?" She asked as she looked at the monastery then put her map away.
She started to move when she heard them.
"She's in the old tomb!"
"Oh shit…I've got to get out of here!" She gasped as she took the stairs two at a time.
"Set the charges!"
Just as she was close to the way she came in, it exploded, and rocks caved in blocking that exit. Another part of the room blew up too, blocking another way out.
"She's trapped! Don't let her escape!"
"No!" Lara yelled looking around then pulled out her assault rifle and took aim at the men.
Explosions from bullets hitting red barrels, Shotgun blasts from the hip as men tried to get in close, explosions from fired grenades. By the time that all the men were dead, fire was everywhere but slowly dying, and Lara was panting with one hand holding her handgun at the head of a dead man and in the other was her axe.
She looked to a way out and holstered her gun and axe before climbing up to where the men had been shooting at her from. She ran up the path and passed the burning scaffolding and into a tunnel. She crouched as the tunnel became small. She then slid down a decline and jumped off at the end, sinking her axe into the opposite rock wall before she could fall into the abyss below. She then started climbing up. At the top, she pulled herself up and lit her torch.
As she walked through the tunnels and clicked her radio back on and after a few turns and the higher up she got the clearer the static got until she heard gunfire making her pick up her speed.
"Lara!" Reyes's angered voice yelled. "Where the hell are you?!"
"Lara, if you can hear us please pick up the radio!" Kat's voice yelled just as angry, but also scared.
"Oh, no!" Lara gasped pulling her radio. "What's happening?"
"We're under attack!" Reyes yelled as more gunfire sounded. "We need help!"
"Damn it, no!" Lara gasped as she picked up the pace and put her radio away. "I've got to get back there!" she rushed to a post and made a rope line to the other side then slid down it with her axe.
"We shouldn't be here!" Yelled a man as Lara glared.
"No shit. But we got no choice." Said another as Lara moved to cover and pulled out her bow again. "Those outsiders are holed up on the beach. Why aren't we going there?"
Lara growled and drew back on her bow and loosed an arrow at one, getting a head shot then loosed at the next one, the arrow sank into the center of his chest downing them both. She then quietly jogged down the path and heard Kat and Reyes over the radio.
"Watch out, they're on the pier!" Kat yelled.
"Oh shit! Fire! Fire!" Reyes ordered as gunfire echoed through the devise as Lara ran down the walkways and jumped gaps. "Jonah! Help! Where are you!?"
Lara got to a rope line and jumped to it with her ascender.
"Goddamn it!" Kat's voice yelled in an angry pained voice. "Whitmen, you—Agh!"
Lara got to the end of the rope and dropped onto a metal platform, spinning around, and seeing the camp.
"Alright, fuckers, is this all you got!?" Reyes yelled and now Lara could hear her from both the radio and from the camp.
Lara jumped onto the rope line and slid down as red flares flew into the air.
"They're retreating!" Reyes called out as Lara dropped onto the dock.
Kat's POV, when Lara left.
Kat took a seat next to Jonah to keep watch.
"I thought you were going with Lara." He said a little surprised.
"I was but she talked me into staying." She looked behind her at the fire where Sam was reading a book and Whitmen seemed to be sleeping. "And I can't remember when the Solarii recapture Sam." She whispered softly.
They sat in silence for a bit before Jonah looked at Kat's eyes. He could see the dark bags forming under her eyes, her were so droopy. Her body language even suggested she was trying to stay awake.
"When did you last sleep?" He asked her.
Kat yawned as if talking about sleep reminded her how tired she really was. She then frowned trying to remember. "I was knocked out yesterday…"
Jonah shook his head. "When was the last time you actually laid down voluntarily and slept? And for a long amount of time, not like you had yesterday."
Kat thought about it. "Three days ago." She said remembering that that was also the last time she and Lara had eaten anything before that night.
He grimaced. "Go get some sleep." He told her.
"I would more than likely be out for hours." She told him.
"Are you a light sleeper or a heavy sleeper?" He asked.
"Oh, gods please don't phrase the question like that. You sound like a creepy kid in a horror story my daughter had read to her in school." Kat shuttered.
"But really, Kat. Light or Heavy?" Jonah asked.
She sighed. "Light. I may or may not have been training myself to wake up as quickly as posable for the past few years." She admitted.
"That's a bit crazy." Jonah nodded. "Go to sleep, Flower. You will need it to keep Sam safe, and to defeat Himiko. Sleep deprivation can't be good for your aim."
Kat heaved a long sigh. "Okay. You and Lara both are strong arming me…and I'm too tired to argue." She stood and walked to the fire.
She sat down next to Sam, pulled out her journal, and wrote an entry.
We are so close. I can feel it. Sam, Jonah, Lara and I are all in the same boat. Reyes is stubborn, but she's like me, we have girls to get back too, but she seems to believe us that Himiko is keeping us here, but that cop realism is keeping her in the middle about it.
Sam has her tattoo now as well. If she is recaptured and taken to Himiko for the soul transference ritual, it should work by Lara and I time to get to her. Might even stop Himiko from going in her all together. And with the placement, the Solarii would find out about it too late.
We also found the rocket launcher, just as I knew we would at some point. I just have to paint the Ofuda on to the rockets and Himiko's name in red.
Whitmen is back and clueless to our plans. He doesn't know about the tattoo, the rocket plan, the plan to go inland. All he thinks is that we had a group argument about unnatural storms and leaving the island. I know he'll die, and I don't feel all that sad about it.
Soon, Rose. Mommy will be home with you soon.
Once it was written she pulled her photos out of her pouch, slipped them into her journal, and closed it. She hugged it once then put it away before laying down.
"Sam…Wake me if you get scared, okay?" Kat muttered as she passed out.
A little while later Kat was startled awake by a shotgun shot. She bolted up right and drew her revolver looking around as Jonah yelled for them to get to cover. They were under attack. Sam, Whitmen, and Kat ran for the bunker and used it as cover. It was chaos. Molotov's and dynamite thrown, gunfire, yelling and threats. Kat had a second worth of an image of WW II soldiers in the trenches of "No man's Land" with the bombs and gunfire, the screams of dying men. Gods, war was hell and this felt like she was in a War.
Kat pulled her radio and pushed the button. "Kathrine to Lara. Over!" She yelled as she took aim and pulled the trigger four times before needing to reload. "Fucking hell!" she yelped as the concrete of the shelter broke near her face, sending dust flying. "Whitmen, get to the other doorway, cover Sam from there!" She ordered as she reloaded her revolver and grimaced that she had given up her assault rifle.
"Wh-what…Oh yes-yes right!" Whitmen stuttered as he walked to the part of the shelter and Kat pulled Sam closer.
"Sam, do you know of any Japanese protective blessings or chants?" Kat asked her as she fired at the enemy.
"Where the hell is Lara!?" They heard Reyes yell from the boat.
"Ye-yeah. But…" Sam's eyes widened. "It's happening right? They're here for me."
Kat nodded. "Just stick by me. They won't' get you. If they do, just start saying the protective chants repeatedly. No matter what happens. They'll just think you're praying."
"Okay. Yeah, I can do that." Sam nodded worriedly as she rubbed her chest.
"Good. Now, you do have the handgun Lara gave you? Let's take these fuckers out." Kat stated.
Sam nodded slowly and jumped to the other part of the wall for cover. They continued the gunfight.
"Lara!" Reyes yelled into the radio pissed that they were both outnumbered and were down a sharpshooter. "Where the hell are you?!"
Kat pulled her radio as Sam killed a man even as her hands shook. "Lara, if you can hear us please pick up the radio!"
"What's happening?" Came Lara's worried voice sounding as if she'd just been in a fight herself.
"We're under attack!" Reyes yelled over the gunfire. "We need help!"
Kat then saw some men on Whitmen's side by the pier. "Watch out, they're on the pier!" she yelled turning her attention to there and getting next to Whitmen and switching to her crossbow.
"Oh shit! Fire! Fire!" Reyes yelled as Kat got a pair of headshots. "Jonah! Help! Where are you!?"
Kat saw that there was an absurd amount. "Goddamn it!" She yelled as she felt a bullet cut into her right shin. "Whitmen, you—Agh!" She was struck on the side of her head, hard.
She dropped to the ground her vison doubled, and blurring. She could hear Sam screaming and yelling as she tried to stand up, but her balance was off as she fell back down, grabbing her head.
Normal POV
Lara rushed over to Reyes as the Solarii left the beach. Reyes' was holding her bleeding left arm and sat on the ground at the edge of the PT boat. Lara's eyes widened.
"Reyes, you're hurt." Lara gasped as Reyes looked to her as he kneeled next to her. "Here." Lara helped her to her feet.
"Thanks…" Reyes said as she stood with Lara. "Seriously." She added as Lara looked around, seeing the item box on the boat. "I thought that was it for me." She told her as Lara looked to her.
Jonah came over with Kat leaning on him holding her bleeding head. "There's no sign of them…" he said as Kat shook a bit.
Lara turned and saw that Kat was also bleeding on her right leg. "What happened?"
"It happened. Whitmen took Sam, tried and failed to knock me out, but I was shot and dazed so I couldn't stop him." Kat informed with a wince as she looked to her leg.
"Shit!" Lara growled. "He's taken her back to Mathias!"
"We should've all stayed together…" Reyes growled out as she looked down.
Lara kicked the side of the boat. "Fuck!"
"I should've fully trusted you both." Reyes admitted looking from Kat to Lara.
"So, what's our next move?" Jonah asked.
"Tend to our injuries, get the rockets ready, and then head for the monastery, wherever that is." Kat stated firmly then looked to Lara who turned around to look at them. "Have you figured out where it is yet?"
"We can do it. The boat's fixed now." Reyes agreed. "But…are we sure we can't go and get help? Like maybe the US Embassy?"
Kat shook her head. "Why do you think I gave Sam her tattoo? Why do you think Lara has been trying to figure out where the monastery is? We can't get off this island. Not until we blow the ever-living shit out of Himiko."
Lara nodded. "We can't radio again either. Himiko's storms target any kind of craft that draws too close. In the past it was to get possible vessels for herself and followers, now it's to keep Sam here." She said. "There where scientists here during World War II, and they believed that the storms were controlled by something, they just didn't know it was Himiko, but they found that its source was in the ritual chamber near the monastery. That is where we'll find Himiko's last body and where the Solarii with take Sam."
Reyes nodded slowly. "But…Spirits?"
"If we try to leave, we'll die." Kat said sadly. "Just like the crew, the pilots, and Roth…"
"Look." Jonah said getting Reyes' attention. "Whatever's happening here, the girls deserve a shot."
Reyes sighed and nodded. "I get it. So, their strong hold is not the monastery, right? Cause we go there it'd be suicide."
"No. They'll take her to the monastery." Lara said as she pulled out her map and unfolded it. "To the ritual chamber." She said as Reyes, Kat, and Jonah gathered around her to get a look at the map. "We can use this inlet to get closer." She said pointing to a river on the map; she looked to the others seeing that Reyes and Jonah seemed just a little unsure, but that Kat seemed to agree. "Look…I know you want to get home to your daughter, believe me, I do." Lara began looking to Reyes. "But the fight's not over yet. And we're not asking you to believe in Himiko being responsible for everything, Reyes. We're just asking for your trust." She said grabbing the woman's good arm in a gentle but determined squeeze.
Reyes sighed through her nose. "I said okay, didn't I?" She asked smiling a small bit. "Let's get this thing in the water and get patched up!"