Chapter 7

Old memories...

The plane Lara and Kurtis were on landed in Ruzine's airport after a long time. When they got out of it Lara's feet ached. Their heads were spinning like crazy. "Last time I was here I was chased by the authorities,a Nephelim, a demon hunter and a God damned alchemist...Now I'm once again chased by a crazy Nephelim and Amanda...That's great... " Lara thought as they got their luggage's and exited the airport...Kurtis squeezed her hand and passed her his thoughts "Relax...besides we are here only for business..." She wondered if there was any way she could have her mind only for herself but obviously she couldn't. She didn't argue though...She enjoyed the fact that Kurtis cared about her. They were lucky enough to see that a motorbike was waiting outside of the airport. A young man was standing near it having the keys in his hand "I'll have to thank Zip for that..." Lara thought as she stepped closer and looked at the man. He was tall,blonde with green eyes and he was kinda handsome. Kurtis didn't like her last thought and swallowed a very bad comment. "Then they say about men. When they see nice men they always have their jaws drop...What the hell am I thinking...Lara would never do that..."he thought and before he could talk the blonde guy spoke.

"Hello I believe you are Mr Trent and Ms Croft . You rented that bike? " He asked. To their surprise his English were very good.

"Yes that's us..." Lara finally said impatient. She wanted that bike,and she wanted it now.

"Here is the key...Please return it in one piece...it's very expensive..." The blonde guy said as he placed the keys in her hand. He turned around and left quickly. She looked at the motorcycle in front of her...a white Ducati Streetfighter S was standing in front of her.

"I think I'm in love with that bike. I will take it back to Surrey no doubt"she whispered

"And I thought you were in love with me..."Kurtis joked. He wanted to tease her a bit. It made him laugh.

"I never said that..." she joked back and jumped on the bike.

"Are you coming or not? "She asked while laughing at his face. They had a long way to the Strahov.

"Well I have to admit it hasn't changed a bit..." Lara said when they arrived. The same old creepy building she was in so many years ago. Well it was tore apart from the explosion but still it was as spooky as it was the first time she saw it. She got of the bike and felt shivers go down her spine. She hated that feeling,sometimes it meant danger some others that she just disliked the place she was...That time was both. She opened her back pack and took out her holsters along with her dual pistols. It was a miracle that she had Zip...He always planted small thinks in her bag to prevent the x-ray lasers from noticing the guns she always hid in the bag."Zip just earned a raise in his salary" she said out loud and Kurtis looked at her curious.

"What?"he asked after holstering his own gun under his coat.

"Nothing..."Lara bit her lip...She saw a door and opened it. She got in the building and remembered how awful it was in there. She didn't feel safe. Her instinct was very annoying. She kept on walking till she got at the door were the Bio Research facilities started...memories floated in her mind. Kurtis had the same thoughts. He had been spying her before he locked her in the airlock. But that was the only good thing he could think about this place. Slowly they opened the door and stepped in. Before the could say a word a patient from the Sanitarium appeared in front of them. His hands were wrapped around his body and he was pale. He didn't seem to bother with them though he just looked around like lost. Lara took out her guns and pointed them at him. Kurtis looked at her knowing what she was ready to do and stopped her.

"He is not dangerous...He is one patient I saw in the Sanitarium...I'm very surprised that he is still alive..." he said sceptically...He thought all the experiments were dead after all those years.

"Someone is still running the place...We have to be careful..."Lara said while holstering her guns again. She had a very bad feeling about these things. She kept on walking and found herself in the garden when she first met Muller. The plants were still alive to her surprise and they seemed different like they have grown up differently...Suddenly a very loud noise echoed in the garden and they both looked up in shock. She unholstered her guns and waited while Kurtis took out his gun and the Chirugai started spinning in circles. Out of nowhere a huge mutant dog came in the garden and started running towards them. They didn't have time to talk they just fired as quickly as possible and to their surprise the mutant fell down dead. Or so they thought so...after a short moment the dog sat up and looked Lara in the eyes."That's not good..."Lara thought as she started firing again. The dog run towards her this time and fell on her. She fell back and started fighting it of when she saw Kurtis trying to take it away from her but that had no use. After a brief moment she felt pain in her right arm. Kurtis looked desperate while that thing was still on Lara. He couldn't do anything because he would hurt Lara but to his surprise Lara finally pushed it away from her and shot it between it's eyes. Nothing happened. Kurtis looked at the dog with fury. They both raised their guns and shot the dog when Kurtis realized that the Chirugai was next to Lara and a thought crossed his mind.

"Lara the Chirugai. Cut it's head now..." he shouted to her and run at the dog. He kept on firing when he saw the Chirugai cutting the dog's head off. He jerked his head up and looked at Lara who seemed shocked. She had a huge scratch on her right arm. She fell to her knees and tried to breath steady...She had seen that mutant dog before...And it was long ago...She pushed the thoughts aside. She started feeling dizzy and her vision began to blur. She didn't even realized it when Kurtis took her hand and talked to her. He checked her arm and took out a first aid kit. Lara was still unconscious when he wrapped her arm with some bandages. He sat there waiting for her to wake up.

One hour later...

Her head was spinning and she could still feel dizzy. She was to lazy to open her eyes but she did anyway. She looked around and realized she was still in the garden they fought that dog. Before she could say a word a hand took hers and she looked up to see those blue hypnotizing eyes looking back at her.

"Thanks..." she said while trying to get sit.

"You are welcome...Don't do that again..."he said concerned. She had scared him to death.

"What have I done?"Lara asked back. When she saw his face she bit her lip.

"For falling unconscious for an hour...You scared me! Don't do that again... " he said and kissed her gently. She felt dizzy again but this time she didn't want this to end. Her hands got wrapped around his neck and then she was pushed back down on the ground. He kissed her again so tenderly that she thought the kiss they shared could not be better but she changed her mind when his tongue slipped in her mouth...She wanted all of him...but she had to come back to reality and realize that they were in a fortress. "To hell...i want to enjoy this..."The thought was in her mind all the time. When they broke for air he looked in her eyes. He leaned in again and kissed her neck making her shiver from pleasure. But they didn't have enough time for this so he tried to force his own shelf to reality. When he did,he stood up, took her hand and helped her to her feet.

"We have to move...Look the dog came from there..."he said and pointed at a hole in a wall. Lara stepped closer and looked inside. It was just an empty hallway. She stepped in followed by Kurtis and kept on moving till she saw a door. She opened it and looked inside. The room appeared to be a morgue,surgical tools were on plates but what caught her eye were some men, mercenaries from the look of their clothes and equipment. "We have to be careful of the mercenaries now. We don't want to get their attention." She thought to Kurtis who gave a nod for reply. She closed the door and started running down the hallway. She stopped when she came face to face with another door. Again she opened it a few inches and looked inside. Her jaw dropped to the floor when she saw the woman standing behind a computer. Her hair was short,she was blonde,tall,and she was wearing black clothes. "Amanda?" Lara closed the door again and looked behind her. Kurtis wasn't there."Where the hell is he?Kurtis?Kurtis do you hear me? " She thought while she walked back from were she came. She was concerned but before she could ask him where he was again his thoughts were already in her mind"Lara get out of there now...Amanda knows we are here...Come out from where we got in. I'm waiting outside...I stayed behind and heard the mercenaries talk...It's a trap..."

"Okay..." She run towards the hole they came from and got back at the garden. The Chirugai was on the floor so she grabbed it and continued running. It was a moment after she made it out safely when she heard a loud BANG and saw the whole place behind her explode...She kept on running and found Kurtis on the motorcycle. She wouldn't argue with him about who would drive so she jumped on the bike behind him and he started the engine before she could think of anything. She took a look at the ruined fortress before the bike turned at a corner and heard police coming closer. To her relief she will never see the Strahov or anything made from it again.