Chapter 7 - The Picture
Alex's POV
The next morning, after we finished our breakfast, Lara suggested we should look for Sam and Roth. We took our time to prepare, before leaving. I had nothing much to prepare, since the only thing I got was a handgun and a couple mags, so I decided to check up on Rick. He was talking on a what looked like a military-grade walkie-talkie.
"Rick." I began.
"What, yeah… Yeah?" He turned around and put away his two-way radio.
"We should get going."
"Oh yeah, right." He replied and followed me back to Lara.
"Are you guys ready?" Lara asked us.
We both nodded and off we went.
"We are coming back here, right? I'm kinda liking this new camp." I said to the others.
"Me too." Lara agreed.
After a half an hour walk, we approached the entrance of a dark cavern.
"Should we go around?" I asked.
"No, we can go through, I got a light." Rick said and took a flashlight out of his backpack, again, military-grade.
He turned it on and lead the way. We saw nothing but darkness at first, until we reached a larger area inside the cavern. Suddenly a horrible smell hit us, making me cough. I covered my nose with my hand and slowly walked after Rick.
My skin crawled when Rick's light revealed countless corpses lying around the place. It looked like this cavern was used as a dump for bodies.
"What is this place?" Lara asked with a shaky voice.
She was scared, so was I. This place gave me the creeps.
"I don't know. It looks like they dumped all these bodies here, because they were rotting, leaving a foul odor." Rick replied.
"Sure looks like it." I commented, still in disgust.
We went further in and the path narrowed. Fortunately, we saw light coming in from outside. We walked towards it and exited the cavern.
"I'm so not going in there again…" Lara stated shivering.
"You said it." I responded to her.
We were in the middle of another damn forest. This one looked almost identical to the one our camp was, except, it was flatter. There was a small hunting lodge in the distance. It looked abandoned, so we walked towards it.
"Hey Rick, who were you talking to earlier, on your radio?" I asked him curiously.
"I was trying to establish radio contact with the surviving crew of the Endurance." He replied.
"Any luck?" I said.
"Get down!" Lara whispered.
"What?" I whispered back.
She gestured with her hand that I should listen carefully. I focused my hearings on what was happening around me. I equipped my pistol and heard unfamiliar faded voices talking.
"Don't worry, the wolves got the Texan."
"Finally! That cowboy was a drag. 'Sonbitch', took out half our crew."
"Yeah, I hope they also ripped apart his little girl, bitch killed Andrew with her stupid knife."
"Take him out." Rick whispered.
I aimed my gun at the one furthest from Rick. Rick swiftly, but steadily moved up to the one closest to him. He grabbed him and performed a rear naked choke. The man tried to fight back, but only managed to hit the top of Rick's head once, before falling asleep.
"What the…" The other guy yelled, before I shot him clean through the head.
Rick held onto the man's chin tightly and the backside of his head. He then violently snapped the dude's neck to make sure he wouldn't wake up anymore and searched the body.
"Jesus, Rick!" Lara whispered.
"No risks." He replied bluntly.
I searched the one I killed, but found nothing worth taking. Rick threw me a magazine and I caught it. I checked if it was full and shoved it into my back pocket.
I looked around me for Lara and found her sitting on a wooden patio chair, on the porch of the hunting lodge.
"You look comfortable." I smiled as I walked towards her, observing the environment as I went.
She patted on her legs, gesturing me to sit on her lap. I did as she wanted and ended up in an awkward position.
"Shouldn't this be the other way around?" I chuckled uncomfortably.
"Yeah." She giggled.
I stood back up and switched positions with her. She sat down on my lap sideways with her legs facing to the left and her back facing to the right. She leaned in on my chest and closed her eyes.
This place was so serene; birds chirping, insects buzzing and small wildlife making their way through the tall grass.
Lara finally looked at peace for once. She looked like she could fall asleep any moment and so could I. I hadn't felt so relaxed in a long time. Could be the lack of coffee or that Lara was snoring quietly, because I was feeling really tired. I slowly drifted away into a dream.
~ Winter 2010 ~
"Lara! How was your holiday to Spain?" I cheered.
"Hey Alex! It was awesome! The weather was gorgeous and the hotel was beautiful." She grinned warmly.
Her cheeks were blushing, because of the cold. It had been snowing for two weeks straight and I loved it. Nothing better than sitting inside, listening to the Christmas playlist on Spotify and drinking some good old coffee.
"Where're you heading?" I asked her.
"Home, you wanna come over? Sam's prepared some hot chocolate." She offered.
"Err... Yeah sure. Sounds good." I smiled nervously and walked with her.
She really liked the snow. She was jumping around and playing with it. Occasionally she threw a snowball at me.
She looked really cute in her army green jacket with a pair of skinny jeans and her beige beanie on her head.
She walked backwards facing me and gazed at me with smile. I smiled back and we walked like this for a short moment until she broke eye-contact and started jumping around again.
When we got to her apartment, Sam placed two cups of hot chocolate on the kitchen counter with whipped cream to top it off. I took off my jacket and gave it to Lara. She hung it on the coats hanger and took off hers.
We took our hot chocolate and settled on the couch to watch some Netflix.
"How've you been Alex? I haven't seen you in months." Sam asked.
"Great, great. I finally got my study going."
"That's good to hear, I was worried that you wouldn't be let in."
"You know me, I never fail." I chuckled.
"You're right, you never fail to impress me with your stupidity." Sam mocked.
"Ha-ha, hilarious, Sam." I said, leaning forward towards her.
"Shut up Sam, Alex is twenty times smarter than you are." Lara commented jokingly.
"Quit holding his dick, bitch." Sam said with a terrible black woman accent.
"No offense, but you don't even know how your computer works, so you should keep your mouth shut." I told Sam.
"Scratch the 'holding his dick' comment, you probably can't find it anyway." Sam dissed.
Lara bursted out in laughter and apologized for laughing shortly after. I didn't think it was all that funny and Sam noticed that.
"Sorry Alex, I didn't mean it." Sam apologized.
"It's okay, it was a good comeback." I chuckled and took a sip of my hot chocolate.
"You got a little…" Lara wiped off and ate the whipped cream that got on my nose when I took a sip.
"Thanks." I smiled.
"You're welcome." She replied with a smile back.
"You two make a pretty cute couple." Sam said, unsure if she was kidding.
"Sam…You know that that will never be a thing." Lara told Sam.
FUCK.
"Lara! That's so rude! You don't throw someone in the friendzone like that." Sam whispered indignantly.
I began to feel some sort of pain inside my chest. Talk about a broken heart. Lara clearly felt offended which got her agitated.
"What do you want me to say? 'Would you be so kind to step inside the friendzone, thank you?' Besides, I wasn't putting him in the friendzone, Sam." Lara defended herself.
"I dunno, just not like that." Sam replied ignorantly.
"Well, if you don't have a better way to say it, keep your mouth shut."
"I was helping you two, what is your problem?"
"What's my problem? My problem is that you always think that you're better with boys than I am."
"Which is true." Sam provoked.
"Just count the boyfriends I had and the ones you had." She added, which crossed the line for Lara.
"You are an absolute b-" Lara shouted, but got cut off mid-sentence by me.
"For god sake, shut the fuck up! Why do girls always have to argue over the dumbest things." I flipped.
The two looked at me in silence, shocked at my reaction. I finished my drink and stood up.
"Thanks for the hot cocoa." I said with a not so sincere tone.
I walked to the coats hanger and took my jacket.
"Where're you going?" Sam asked.
"Home. It was fun, bye." I replied abruptly and left the apartment.
~ Present time ~
I felt Lara's body moving around, causing me to wake up. I slowly blinked and opened my eyes. Lara was still sitting on my lap with her head on my chest.
"Wake up, sunshine." I said, shaking her arm softly.
She moaned softly, opened her eyes and let out a cute yawn.
"You mumble a lot in your sleep." She chuckled sleepy.
"Slept well?" I asked her with a smile.
"Uh huh." She confirmed yawning and stood up from my lap. She stretched out her body and sighed.
"What was it about?" She asked.
"What?" I said, not sure what she meant.
"Your dream." She yawned again.
I sighed, unsure if I should tell her. "You remember that one time, when it snowed heavily and I came over to your apartment?"
"Err... After I came back from Spain?" She asked.
"Yeah." I confirmed.
"Yes I remember." She replied.
"Well, that was what I dreamt about."
"About that... I'm-" She began.
I didn't want to think about that right now, it only brought back bad memories, so I cut her off, which wasn't exactly a nice move. I knew she must've felt bad for saying that back then, but I didn't want to bring up the subject again. Besides, I was too anxious to discuss our relationship with her.
"Where's Rick?" I asked.
"No... no idea." She sighed.
"Rick?" I called loudly.
"I'm inside!" He yelled.
Lara and I went inside. The room looked like a typical hunting lodge, complete with chimney and hunting rifles. Everything was made of wood and there were about half a dozen animal heads on the walls. There was a rhino head hung lower than the others, enabling me to touch it. The horn was still really sharp, despite the estimated age of the trophy.
Rick was sitting at the table in the corner of the room which was also made of wood. He was reading through a book.
"What are you reading?" Lara asked.
"An instruction manual on how to modify a rifle." He responded.
"Where did you find it?" I asked.
"In the bedroom." He replied.
I walked towards the bedroom to take a look around.
"There's nothing interesting in there, I searched it already." He told me.
I didn't care, I just wanted to look around and went inside. I searched the various drawers, but found nothing. I walked over to the bookshelf and took a book out of it. I flipped through the pages and suddenly a picture fell out. I crouched down to pick it up and took a close look.
"What the hell..." I muttered, not believing what I saw.
~ End of Chapter ~