Slouching Toward Bethlehem
A continuation of Lara Croft Tomb Raider: The Angel of Darkness.
Disclaimer:
I do not own any recognisable characters that appear in this piece of fiction. Lara Croft, Kurtis Trent and others are property of Eidos and Crystal Dynamics. The only thing I own is some OCs and the plot. This story was written for pleasure only. I am making no profit from this story.
Contact:
If you have any questions or comments about this story please don't hesitate to drop me a line. Just click the review button at the bottom of the page. Thank you.
» Chapter Twenty Five: A New World »
Lara, still on her knees, scooted backwards a few metres. She had no wish whatsoever to incur the wrath of these creatures. Karel however had no such qualms, and stepped closer to the three Nephilim, positively shaking with anticipation.
"By my hand and by Lux Veritatis blood you are standing here today. I have tried for centuries to free you from your prison. The Cubiculum Nephili was destroyed, but in my search of the ancient texts I found the ancient prophecy and the instructions for the ritual. Many of my men have given their lives to bring you once more onto the Earth." His eyes gleamed with promise. Lara had a feeling he had practised this speech before. "Join with me. Become my army, and I promise I shall lead you into war against this world. We will reclaim the paradise the Father denied us so many eons ago."
The tallest Nephilim stepped forwards, its slanted red eyes searching Karel with increasing intensity. A moment later it blinked, having finished its assessment.
"The Earth is already ours," the Nephilim replied, its voice a deathly whisper. "We have no further use of you."
It raised one claw-tipped hand. A green glow began to envelope the palm, and tiny crackles resembling lightning danced about the newly-formed sphere of energy.
A sharp bolt of green light flew across the chamber, exploding into Karel and carrying him halfway across the room with its force. He hit the back wall hard and lay in an unmoving slump.
Lara gaped in horror. Was Karel dead? Perhaps the power of a Nephilim could kill others of their own kind.
There was a piercing shriek. Lara turned to find the Nephilim gathering beneath the hole in the ceiling. One by one they unfolded their wings, the leathery skin beating against the dust-filled air. With slow deliberate wing beats they flew up and out of the gaping hole in the ceiling, up towards the heavens.
Once they were out of sight Lara ran over to Karel. She fell to her knees and put a finger to his neck. He had no pulse whatsoever.
Joachim Karel was dead – killed by his own creation.
Shakily Lara regained her footing. Now the only two left alive in the chamber were herself and Kurtis. She just wished the journey towards this outcome had been a little different.
She rushed across the floor, picking her way around the rubble which had fallen and which continued to fall from the broken ceiling. The light clanking of chains announced that Kurtis was weakly pulling at his restraints.
Lara rushed over to him.
"Kurtis?" Lara asked fearfully, "Are you OK?"
She reached out a hand and touched his side lightly. Kurtis flinched a little as pain reawakened throughout his body. Quickly though he covered up his discomfort with a slight smile.
"I hate it when they stab me," he muttered.
Lara's dirt and tear-streaked face broke into a grateful smile. Gently she leaned forwards and kissed him, resting her bloodied hands upon his shoulders.
They stood and embraced; safe in the knowledge that they were both still alive and had found each other at last. Slowly though reality overcome their passion, and Lara gently pulled back and stared into Kurtis' eyes.
"I don't know why the Nephilim ignored us. Perhaps they thought we would die down here anyways… In any case: let's the get the hell outta here, shall we?"
He smiled.
Lara retrieved her pistols from the floor, took aim, and finally shot out the chains holding up Kurtis' arms.
He slumped heavily, and Lara hooked his arm about her shoulder and helped support his weight. She had a sudden feeling of déjà vu, and her thoughts flashed back to the Strahov, when she'd first helped an injured Kurtis regain his feet. Damn, that seemed like a lifetime ago.
They had taken barely a dozen steps when Kurtis gasped and clutched at his stomach. The gash was beginning to bleed quite heavily.
"I need to bandage the wound," Lara told him.
Kurtis looked up at her in shock.
"Lara, this whole place is gonna blow in less than ten minutes. The ceiling is coming down on us as we speak. We really need to be making tracks!"
Lara spoke in a firm voice full of conviction: "I'd rather get buried down here than have you bleed to death on me later. OK?"
She looked at him with total honesty.
Kurtis simply sighed and gave a shrug. "If we don't make it out of here in time, I'll hold it against you for all of eternity."
Lara rolled her eyes and gently lowered him to the floor, so that his back rested against a badly-ravaged stone pillar.
Quickly Lara fished the bandages out of her backpack. Behind her there was a scraping sound, as though something were being dragged across hard rock.
She turned, finding herself staring down the barrel of a gun. An extremely pale-looking Gunderson stood weakly before her, his hands trembling as they held his pistol. Dark blood ran from the many bullet wounds which decorated his body, but in his eyes there was a mad desperation which continued to kept him upright.
Before Lara could even react there was a loud gunshot. The sound reverberated and echoed around the walls.
Gunderson's lips tightened in pain. Weakly, he lowered his head and stared disbelievingly at the fresh bullet hole in his chest, right in the middle of his heart.
The blood had barely begun to stain his jacket. Without another sound he finally fell; his lifeless body collapsing sideways upon the cold stone floor.
It had all happened in less than five seconds. Lara turned to find Kurtis lowering one of her smoking guns, a child-like grin on his face.
"I just lived out the American dream," he joked, "I killed my boss."
Lara gave him an amused smile, stepping over to make sure Gunderson was really dead.
Satisfied, she left the body where it lay and knelt back in front of Kurtis, picking up a roll of bandages.
"I don't have anything to clean this wound," she admitted after a moment.
Kurtis gave Gunderson's corpse a little nod with his head.
"I know for sure he has a bottle of whiskey in his belt."
Lara stepped over and soon found the canteen. She also retrieved Kurtis' Boran X and his Chirguai.
Once she had given Kurtis back his weapons – much to his delight – she poured some of the whiskey onto a corner of bandage and cleaned his wounds as best she could and as much as she willing to do so. Kurtis gritted his teeth and hissed heavily as the burning liquor cauterised his wounds.
"How did you know he had whiskey?" Lara asked after a moment. At the same time she dabbed some ointment on the burn marks on his chest, elicting a hiss of pain, and drew back with a guilty smile. When she met Kurtis' eyes she suddenly realized what the alcohol had been used for.
Fuel to set him on fire.
"Oh God, Kurtis," she murmured, slowly drawing back her hand.
He shook his head shortly.
"I've been through worse," he admitted, giving her a smile, "I'll be fine. We really need to be going." He added with slight innuendo: "You can mother me later."
A suggestive smile pulled at Lara's lips. Quickly she finished wrapping his stomach as best she could. Then she pulled the flask of tea out of her backpack.
"Drink this," she said, unscrewing the lid and handing the container to Kurtis.
He did so, and had had only a few mouthfuls when he lowered the flask and began to splutter.
"It's awful!" he complained.
"I know," Lara answered with a snigger, "Just drink it. It'll help you heal."
Kurtis gave the flask's contents a wary look, but proceeded to drink once again. When he'd drunk his fill he pushed the flask towards Lara.
"You have the last of it," he explained.
"Kurtis. You need it more," Lara told him firmly, looking at him with serious eyes.
"Lara," he insisted, "You're hurt too."
There was a test of wills for a moment. The floor shook and more pieces of ceiling fell. Lara looked about her and sighed, snatching the flask out of Kurtis' hands. She was going to need the extra strength to get of here intact.
Tipping back her head she drank until there nothing but dregs left. She almost spat it all back out, but she put a hand up to her mouth and forced herself to swallow.
She began to throw everything into her backpack. Kurtis gave her an amused look.
"Can't take your medicine?" he asked.
"Shut up Kurtis," she shot back, giving him a devious smile, "It looks like the tea has restored your sarcasm. God knows I could live without it." She hitched her backpack over her shoulders. "Now we really need to be getting out of here."
She held out a hand towards him. He grabbed it and she helped tug him to his feet. The tea had healing properties, both physically and mentally. Lara and Kurtis may have been exhausted before, but the drink had helped restore that lost energy.
The whole room shook violently. Larger and larger chunks of rock began to fall from above their heads.
"Can you run?" Lara asked him.
"If the occasion calls for it," he answered, "Which it does."
He grabbed her hand and abruptly pulled her out of the path of a piece of falling debris.
They exchanged a glance, their hearts racing from the near-miss. The room shook even harder. Without a second thought they raced from the room, hand-in-hand, up the sloping corridors and towards the surface at break-neck speed.
Behind them the entrance to the Heart finally gave way. The pillars holding up the roof collapsed, and everything crumbled under the weight. Huge fragments of rock and masonry piled up in the now useless doorway, sealing the chamber from the inside.
Beneath hundreds of tonnes of rock, the Nephilim city lay in ruins.
TBC…
Author's Notes
Sorry about the extended delay everyone. Most of this chapter was written on the coach and the rest soon followed. My internet simply decided to mess up the day I got back, meaning I had to type up the chapter again on my sister's laptop in order to post it. Plus I was really ill this weekend. Buffy fans may notice a little reference in this chapter: "I hate it when they drown me." I couldn't resist :) On a different note: Wow, just one more update to go and this story will be finished!
Brightbear Yup, I do love my myriad of plot twists. I'm glad I kept you on your toes!
N.F.I LOL Well, I'm sorry for the delay this time around. Although Lara and Kurtis are both alive and mostly well :)
dtaylor I'm sorry. I think I have an addiction to cliffhangers :) Yup, just one more chapter to go…
Acid-Rush I'm relieved to see I've got everyone in character. That is always my biggest worry. Glad you liked:D
Lady Lara Croft LOL There is many a time I've wanted to bang my head on the computer screen. It is almost therapeutic in it's more painful-like subtleties. :) Hmmm, how long will everyone have to live:D
AngelTrent Thanks, I did have a nice trip. Hope you like this chapter too.
Arakanga Thank you once again!
Jordana Trent Thanks for the correction. I knew that sentence didn't sound right :s I enjoyed writing all of Karel's dialogue. I'm going to miss that Nephilim…
lara-n-kurtis Yes, at least Lara got him back for shooting her. I'm working on the sequel as much as possible: more plotline than writing it I'm afraid. Hopefully you won't have too long to wait though.
godavari LOL Here is the next update my "angry, impatient" reviewer. :) I don't think you'll be having any more bitch fits. But just you wait...
Lara-is-my-rolemodel Hey, welcome back! Chapter 7? Has it been that long? Glad to see you catching up with the story. Thanks for all your comments :D