Chapter 6 - The Sound of Strings

Alex's POV

"Okay, just bite down on your shirt. This will only take a second."

"Okay..." I muttered, putting the collar of my shirt in my mouth.

Lara used the tip of her arrow to dig out the bullet in my shoulder.

I let out a sharp groan when I felt the pointy tip in between my flesh and the bullet.

"Take a deep breath, Alex. This is gonna sting." She told me.

I did as she says and squeezed my eyes shut.

"Ah! Fuck!" I yelled, the moment she removed the bullet from my shoulder.

"Jesus Christ, you weren't kidding, this fucking burns!"

"Hold still." Lara told me, trying to bandage the wound again. This time with a legit piece of bandage she found inside the building left of the one we were in right now.

"Where did a girl like you learn to do this?" I chuckled, while she bandaged my shoulder.

"I didn't." She replied bluntly.

"Wait what?" I asked confused.

"I improvised." She smiled as she tightened the bandage, causing me to groan.

"You're good to go." She told me.

We stood up and walked towards the campfire.

We were sitting around a campfire Rick made. It was raining again, not as heavy as last time, but it was still rain and I hated it. Fortunately, we set up a camp, or how I like to call it: our 'base of operations', inside the building the sniper was stationed. This covered us from the rain, which is a must.

It was quiet. The only thing I could hear was the rain clattering on the roof of the building. Everybody seemed shaken up by what happened before. Especially Lara, she had been really quiet since we buried George.

"You know, I'm starting to like this camp." I said, breaking the silence.

"Yeah, it's nice." Rick replied.

"Hey, how about you tell us about yourself, Rick."

"Well, what's there to say? I'm Richard Cooper. I'm 25 years old and I've been working for Roth since my 18th."

"25 years old? I thought you were like 30." I told him.

"You're not the first to think that." He chuckled.

And there it was again, complete silence. I decided not to bother chatting with Rick anymore and laid down onto the floor. Sleeping on a hard surface was something I've always been good at, so I drifted away rather quickly.

Birds were chirping, the sun was shining and best of all, it stopped raining. I woke up a little late today. Lara had to wake me up, who was lovely to wake up to as always.

Lara went outside to hunt, so we could fill our hungry stomachs. I didn't know what to do, so I went to check on Rick. He was cleaning his new toy. It was the gun I always used when I played the World War 2 themed Call of Duty games. Those were the days.

"You know how to use that thing?" I asked him.

He looked up and said: "You're not the only one who went to shooting ranges."

"I never fired a rifle before, only handguns. Would you mind if…" I asked, but got cut off.

"We're not exactly tripping over ammunition at the moment, maybe when we get off this god damn island, I'll take you to a real shooting range." He proposed.

"I'll hold you on that one." I smiled.

Rick stood up and walked away from the camp.

"Hey, where are you going?" I yelled after him.

"Just stay on the lookout, Alex." He yelled back.

I did as he said, but soon my curiosity got the better of me. I stood up and walked in the direction Rick went.

I saw him crouched down with something in his hands.

"Watcha doin'?" I asked.

"Didn't I tell you to stay put?"

"Well, I was kinda bored so…"

He sighed and said: "Now you're here anyway, help me out will ya?"

"Grab the other end of this string rope." He told me, already assumed I would help out.

I nodded and took the string in my hands.

"Now tighten it and stab the tent peg into the ground near that tree."

I did as he said and asked: "That all?"

"Yep." He confirmed.

He gave the string rope a soft pull, causing cans to ring up in the tree above us.

"Clever." I said.

"Where's Lara?" He asked.

"Out hunting." I replied.

"You shouldn't let her wander off like that."

"She can handle herself, Rick."

"I'm going after her. Stay here on the lookout, okay?"

"Yes sir…" I rolled my eyes.

Lara's POV

"Really? Why won't you just die…" I said irritated, watching the deer, with an arrow stuck in its body, making a run for it.

"Sure, I'll wait for the next one!" I yelled.

I sighed and sat down onto the soft moist grass with my bow in my left hand. I pulled a few blades of grass out of the ground and threw them aside.

"Hey."

I stood up, turned around and aimed my bow at Rick, all in a split-second.

"Don't sneak up on me like that." I sighed deeply, lowering my bow.

"Nice reflex." He snorted.

"So, what are you doing here?" I questioned.

"I wanted to know if you were safe and all."

"Right."

"Err… How's hunting working out for you?"

"Not very well, I could use a hand."

"Sure." He said, equipping his rifle.

He pulled back the bolt, inserted a clip and pushed the bolt back in place, loading a round into the breech.

"Let's find us some deer." He said and walked further into the forest.

"There's one." I pointed out.

"I see him." Rick said and aimed his rifle.

He took a sharp breath and held it. He steadily squeezed the trigger, firing the rifle. The gunshot echoed through the forest, causing birds to fly away. The deer dropped to the ground.

"Cool!" I said awed.

"You wanna try?" He said, offering me his rifle.

"Yeah." I smiled and took the rifle. I was surprised he let me use a rifle like this one.

"Wow, it's heavy." I chortled.

"Okay, now try to shoot a stationary target, like that bird on the branch."

"Okay…" I aimed the rifle at the bird and tried to pull the trigger, but it didn't fire.

"You err… forgot to load a fresh round into the rifle." He told me.

"Oh right…" I chuckled, slightly embarrassed.

I pulled back the bolt and then pushed it back in place again, loading in a fresh round. I aimed at the bird and fired the gun. It missed the bird, causing it to fly away.

"Damn it…" I sighed.

"Let me help you." He stood behind me and steadied my arms with his.

"Pull the bolt." He said, while gesturing the same.

I loaded a round into the rifle and aimed at another bird that just landed on a branch.

"Now take a deep breath and hold it."

I did as he said and focused on the target. He helped adjusting and steadied my aim.

"Now don't jerk the trigger. Steadily squeeze it. You don't want to get off target when you pull the trigger."

I squeezed the trigger with care, firing the rifle. The bird exploded into a red cloud.

"Yeah!" I exclaimed happily and gave Rick a high-five.

"Nice shot, Lara! You're a natural." He complimented.

"Well, I would've missed without your help." I said humble.

"You did most of it, I just adjusted your aim a little." He smiled.

"Again?" He asked.

"This was fun and all, but we should head back. Alex must be worried." I told him.

We took the deer with us and headed back to the camp.

"Finally, you're back. You got me a lil worried." Alex said and gave me a quick hug.

"Nice catch." He said, pointing towards the deer.

"It's not mine, Rick took that deer out with his rifle." I told Alex.

Alex nodded and took the deer to the campfire.

"Lara, pass me one of your arrows." Alex said.

I took an arrow from my quiver and handed it to him.

"Thanks." And he began slicing the deer open.

The sound gave me the chills so I walked away towards Rick.

"Hey, Rick." I smiled.

"Hey, Lara." He smiled back.

"Hunting was really fun, we should do it again sometime." I suggested.

"Yeah sure." He agreed.

"Can I ask you something, Lara?"

"Sure, ask away."

"Do you trust Alex?"

"Yes, of course I do. Why?" I said confused.

"I don't know, I just... I don't trust people quickly." He replied.

"Do you trust me?" I asked him.

"I..."

"Lunch is ready!" Alex yelled, cutting him off.

We went over to the campfire and took a pointy stick with a chunk of meat on it. We sat there and talked a little.

"I remember that one time, he got his hand stuck in Roth's machinery. I told him that we had to amputate it. He almost bursted into tears when I came back with a fire axe. Turned out, Roth could easily remove the parts that trapped his hand. He didn't say a word to me the next day." Rick chuckled.

I laughed and smiled at Rick.

"Oh man, I miss the bastard..." He sighed.

"He was a good guy." Alex smiled weakly.

"Yeah.." Rick sighed.

"Hey Rick, I just want to tell you that I'm really grateful that you joined our search." I thanked.

"Yeah, me too." Alex smiled.

"I am too, you two are great people." He told us with a warm smile.

We sat there talking almost the entire day. Rick was great, he was funny and good at telling stories. I didn't expect to laugh this much after all this that happened so far.

The sun went down and we decided to sleep. It was a quiet night; no rain, no crickets, just pure silence. Suddenly Rick stood up fast and took his rifle from the table.

"Rick? What's up?" I asked sleepy.

"We've got company." He replied, loading a fresh clip into his rifle, which he took from the same table.

"Wake up Alex and stay with him. Get your bow and arrows." He ordered.

I nodded and crawled towards Alex.

"Alex, wake up." I shook his arm.

"Lara? What is it?" He asked, rubbing his eyes.

"Rick says there are people close by."

"Hostile?"

"I don't know, get your gun, we need to stick together."

He nodded and took his gun from the table. Rick took position near a window with his rifle. Alex stood near the door with his gun and I stood behind him with my bow and arrow.

There was pure silence again. The only thing I could hear was my heartbeat and Alex's breathing.

Suddenly I heard a gunshot, which sounded like Rick's. Screaming followed in the distance.

"Cyka!" I heard someone yell in Russian.

Another shot was fired, again followed by screaming and profanity.

"Sniper! Up in the building!" I heard in the distance.

They started shooting at Rick and I told Alex that we should do something. He agreed and moved towards them, leaving the building.

I followed his steps closely and readied my bow.

Alex's POV

I changed my firing position to Center Axis Relock and shot one of the intruders in his leg, from about 5 meters away. I quickly took advantage of his temporarily immobility and put his arm in an arm-lock. I aimed my gun at the dude standing in front of me, who was unsure who to shoot. I shot him clean through his skull, before he could react and gave the arm-locked man a knee to his head, causing him to walk backwards to regain his balance. I shot him twice in the chest and once in the head, still from the C.A.R. position. I exhaled sharply and started coughing.

I quickly scanned my surroundings and spotted a body with an arrow in his neck.

"Nice shot, Lara." I said exhausted.

"Alex. Where the heck did you learn that?" She exclaimed awed.

"I didn't." I grinned.

"Let me guess, you improvised." She rolled her eyes.

"Maybe." I smirked.

"But seriously, where did you learn that?" She asked again.

"I had a friend back in the States, who taught me a lot of his martial arts stuff. I really enjoyed his seminar and even decided to pay him for it. He was happy to help for free, but I insisted and eventually ended up buying us lunch after each lesson."

"Never expected you to do something like that. That was crazy." Lara said, chuckling the last.

"It's clear, Rick!" I yelled.

When we were back at the camp, Lara told Rick how awesome I was, causing me to blush a little.

Finally I impressed her. I never thought I could feel this happy on this crazy island. The way she reacted was too cute. Man… I'm so in love with her.

Thanks Tommy, those lessons turned out to be VERY useful. Rest in peace, buddy.

~ End of chapter ~