Lara is out of it for six hours, and it's the worse six hours of my life. Worse than being held by the Solari (not by much), worse than that time dad told me he'd be there for my graduation and then duh, didn't show. She's lost to me. She thrashes and moans, and I I hear my name a few times. I don't even know what brought it on so I check her over from head to toe. She's so feverish that if freaks me out. When I touch her it soothes her a little bit, but it's not enough.

I finally find the infection on her back. Some kind of gash she must have gotten while trying to find me, because it doesn't look fresh. Apologizing the whole time I clean and wash it off, then have to step away to clear my head and my stomach. I'm not a nurse. I barely passed the first aid classes she insists we take. She seems to settle down a bit after that, and her fever breaks.

We need that radio because for the second time in my life I'm almost certain I'm going to lose her. I rush back to the crash site. Lara's just barely in sight so I can relax a little while I search. I'm not about to abandon her if I can help it. I'll probably die in the rainforest alone if I try to get help anyway.

She wakes up after I get back and I'm beyond relieved. My whole body is drained from worry. Still, we flirt and we chat and for a little while my mood improves. Even if I am ready to dig a hole under a rock after she reveals she kissed me.

I tell her I don't remember that night, but I remember enough of it. I remember my boyfriend at the time trying to pass me around to all his friends. Because I was easy. I got home and then the next thing I remember Lara's holding me. She's my rock, my support and I didn't understand why she put up with me. I still don't.

The kiss… I remember initiating it. I really thought I'd initiated it! But she'd kissed me back and it was amazing, but she stopped it and put me to bed and the hangover had been epic. Lara didn't bring it up, so I didn't bring it up, and we pretended it had never happened. But I thought about it sometimes.

Leave it to Lara to apologize for something that far back. I expect her to say she's sorry if her hands got frisky when we snuggled at night in boarding school. Now that brings back some seriously frustrated memories. And fantasties.

"Sam, you're leering."

I snap out of my reverie and look anywhere but at Lara's face. I'm sure she has some kind of appraising expression there and I won't have any of it! "Just thinking about some things. Kind of probably the same things you were thinking about. Ahah!" I point at her. "Now you're blushing again." I do a little dance in place because I win, and I'm rewarded with a smile.

"How's the radio coming?" She starts to sit up but I push her back down. "It's...coming. I think it's working but I'm not able to pick anything up. It could be a reception issue."

Lara winces, and I remember her telling me about her radio tower climb. Nuh uh. No way in hell could I do that. I look at the radio, then at her. She looks resigned. "Oh no. I'm not leaving you, Lara!" I hold up my hands. "I can't! You could go under again, or something could attack you. You need me."

"Sam, the last thing I want is to see you walk away, but we need help. I can't walk. It's up to you. You can do it." She takes the radio from my hands and squeezes them. "I trust you. Haven't I said that enough? You'll get help, and you'll come back to me. I'm not going anywhere."

I look at her at a loss. How can she expect me to do this? But she's looking at me so earnestly. She trusts me. Maybe she's right! I lean down and kiss her, and we both let it linger. "Okay let me just...get everything ready, make sure you're armed and I've got … stuff. Survival stuff." Survival stuff is important.

To do this, I'll need weapons, and something to hack through the foliage and something to keep in contact with Lara. I also need my camera. First though, I need to find that machete. I could bring Lara's axe but I know she'll feel better if she has it and I'll feel better if she has something like that too. Sure, she'll have a gun and her bow, but if something got close. I shudder and try not to think about it. Besides. I kind of need to face what I did.

Victor is still laying where I'd killed him, and he's already starting to decompose. It's a smell I remember pretty well from being around the Solari but that doesn't make it any less disgusting, and I'm pretty sure half of what makes me sick is the memory. The way his flesh just gave. The weapon cut through him so easily that I'm still disgusted at myself. It's a worse feeling as I try to dislodge it. I finally get it out of him and find a stream to wash it in. I wash my hands too. It's probably the fourth time I've washed since I killed him. Once after Lara found me, once before I treated her and then after.

No matter how much I rub, my hands don't get clean, not the way I want them to. I have to give up eventually, and make my way to the wreckage. I get my camera, and put together a pack full of water and food and a map. Then I test the radio before filming the scene. "We've been stuck here for two days now, and this is the first time I've had a chance to film. Lara is injured, our guide and pilot both dead. Lara's over here. We're preparing for me to go look for help, and I'm going to move her to a better position."

I set the camera down as she rolls her eyes at me. My voice is still a little subdued from what I'd had to do to get the machete. "I got that, sweetie."

"Are you going to film your entire trip?"

"Yeah. I wanted to wait until you looked better before I started…"

I beam at her when she smiles at me. Her voice is a little tired, and I hand her the map to see if she can figure out which direction I should head in. "Thank you, Sam. You have no idea how much I appreciate that."

Getting busy making her a little nest, I sneak peeks at her as she looks at the map. I can't make heads or tails of it and I don't even know if she can figure out where we are according to it, but she's got the eye for that kind of stuff. My camera is capturing both of us and I'm sure I can edit it into something awesome. I wish I could have filmed that stone man. Maybe I can find it's body. The footage I got in that temple in Costa Rica is still mind boggling, but I've stopped being surprised by just about everything.

"You know, I kind of wish this had been like the last time we were in Peru. Sure, it was creepy, they way those statues moved and followed us with their eyes, but they didn't attack us!"

"The thing that changed between then and now is what we found in that temple," Lara pointed out. "If they all really are linked, then maybe we're somehow marked." She made a little note on the map and then gestured me over.

"I don't want to be it, Lara, in some bizarre game of tag.." Crouching next to her, I pay attention as she explains the map, where she thinks we are, and what direction I should go in. She'd come in from up hill so she must have seen more of the area than I had. "So if I head in this direction and make it to these hills here, you think I'll be able to radio for help?"

"That's my hope. There's one thing you can do that might help us out even more, though." She pointed towards the smoldering remains of the cockpit. "But you don't have to if you don't think you can handle it. The GPS might have survived."

I follow her finger and make a face. "It's okay. If we can pinpoint our location I can direct help right to you, and make it back to you before they get here." So I get up, and walk towards the helicopter again. I wipe my sweaty hands on my pants and try to ignore what's left of our pilot. The only consolation is doesn't look like she moved around much, so she was probably dead or unconscious when she caught on fire. "I'm sorry. This is our fault and I know you were just doing your job. We'll get you home to your family, somehow…"

I manage to locate something that kind of looks like a GPS. It's blackened, and partially melted, but it powers on. Oh thank you thank you thank you! "Lara!"

I run out towards her and show her on the screen where it looks like there are coordinates. "I don't know if it's accurate though. It's pretty beat up."

"I think it's accurate, it's about where I expect us to be!" She squeezes my hand and we grin at each other for a few minutes. Well it's a few seconds really but I wish it was longer. Then I point to her shelter.

"I need to get you over there. Okay? This is going to hurt." When she nods, I get her onto that makeshift sled and drag her over to the nest I'd set up. She'll have access to food and water, and I started a fire earlier to smoke out any bugs, which she'll need for warmth, anyway. Her weapons are in reach. She's got everything she needs to hang in long enough for help.

Still. I'm staring at her a little dubiously once she's settled, then I give her the medkit. I trust her not to abuse it, and worry more about her not using any at all. So I shoot her up when she isn't looking.

"Sam!"

"Not a word! I want you comfy before I go." I kneel next to her and hug her. "I love you. I love you. Oh god just…."

She kisses me and nuzzles my face. "I'm okay. Get going."

"This time I'm going to treat you to a date. Promise." I kiss her back. I don't want to let go but I get up, and get my pack and the machete and my camera. I look at the map, figure out north, and then head east like Lara marked. I promise myself I won't look back and break it almost immediately. She waves. I wave back, and then turn and walk until she's out of sight.

Without the map I'd be lost and I already feel lost. This whole thing is terrifying. I can barely make it through London without Google maps! But now I'm tramping through a rainforest with a machete and a camera and a paper map. Paper! I should probably be watching where I'm going better and I nearly twist my ankle twice. Then I spend a full hour walking in circles. I'm about ready to radio Lara for advice when I spot something that sends a chill down my spine.

It's a carved stone face, looking at me for all the world like I'd just insulted it's mother. It's set into the ferns, green with moss and weathered with age. I zoom the camera in on it and get a little closer, and that's when my foot triggers a panel, and a door slides open next to the face.

"That's not creepy in the slightest," I comment. I look down at the map and there's nothing on it about this place, but something draws me inside and before long the only light is the flash on my camera. It's pretty strong (part of the reason I picked this model) and for some reason I can't find it in myself to question why I've entered this place. I hum to myself to help control my fear. The hairs on my arms stand up and I turn a corner. There's that black water like in Costa Rica and going through it looks like the only way to continue. I groan. "Ew. I guess I'm going to have to get wet."

I stick my foot in and it doesn't seem that deep, so I start to wade across. It seems to go on forever, and I'm almost to the other side when there's nothing beneath my feet and I go under. I try to push to the surface but something drags me down. It's so dark that I can't see which direction I'm facing before I'm sucked into a tunnel. The current drags me down and down and my lungs feel like they're going to explode. I break the surface and gasp, trying to inhale as much air as I can before I drag myself onto some rocks and cough. Oh god. My camera is tangled around my arm so I disentangle it and point it towards my face. "Okay that was stupid of me. Now I'm even more lost than I was and that water is nasty!. It tastes like natto! Would you believe Lara loves that stuff? Crazy isn't it."

The camera seems to be in good shape despite the dip in the water, so I pan it around me. I want an idea of where I am, and I'm almost ready to try walking again. "All right. Assuming my legs work we're going to see where this goes. I don't really have much of a choice anyway. So I guess...we're going to follow this creepy corridor. With all the faces. Like that one there. He looks constipated."

Those damned faces again! Carved into the stones of the walls on both sides of me, and occasionally the ceiling right above. Costa Rica and Peru...and where else? Lara hasn't found as much information about them as we would like. Clearly there's a link, but thousands of miles apart? "They're making fun of us. Don't mind them." I get a shot of me making the same face as one of the faces, before I continue on. That black water flows along either side of my path and I shudder. Just like before, I get this horrible feeling about that water. There's something distinctly unnatural about it.

There's maybe one or two faces for every twenty feet. The deeper I go the more grotesque and pained the expressions get. Like whatever waits at the end terrifies the stone, or is causing them pain. I'm trying to zoom on in one really pissed off looking face when I see movement out of the corner of my eye. I turn, looking and panning the camera just in time for a figure to rise out of the water to my left.

Or maybe I should say that it formed itself out of the water. There's a copy of me standing there and I shriek. My feet are rooted to the spot! The other Sam's eyes are black and hollow, her mouth distorted in that freaky grin just like I'd seen on that fake Lara in the other temple. There are gaps in her face and pale skin with just the inky blackness in hollowed out places. It's kind of like staring into the night sky of terror. I tear my eyes way just in time and the spell breaks. I'm rolling to the side just as that thing lunges for me!

The way these things move is disjointed. Like they're not quite used to walking on two feet. That's advantage Sam, because I'm really good at moving on two feet, and you should hear Lara complain about how I can run on heels. I really want to hear Lara complain about how I run on heels so I need to get away from this thing, or at least get to a place with more room.

It's running behind me. I make the mistake of looking back and it's mouth is open. Gaping wide with disgusting black spittle. It makes an unearthly hissing sound that turns my knees to jelly. I keep running, but I'm pretty sure I need to change my pants.

The tunnel branches and to the left I can feel a hum of energy in the air. That's the direction I pick. If it's anything like the last place then I think I'll be able to get to some high ground. I've got my copy nipping at my heels and we're both moving too fast for me to risk some precious ammunition. I still have nightmares about shooting fake-Lara. I don't want to add shooting myself to them too.

Okay, I'm going to have to, but I'll worry about that when I'm able to. There's a breeze coming from in front of me and I push my tired and sore legs harder.

The tunnel opens up into a great domed chamber. There's a smooth pillar at the center and the ground slopes gently towards it. Statues that look just like that stone man line a ledge all around, looking down like disapproving principles. There's a soft glow at the top of the pillar. That's where the skull is, I'd stake my camera on there being one! There's no time to really scan the place or film it. My evil twin is already in the chamber with me and I'm backed up against the pillar.

I fumble for the gun at my waist. My fingers move by rote and I need to apologize to Lara for all the complaining I've done as she patiently made me do this kind of thing over and over, because I'm able to get the safety off and the gun pointed at my target before I even think about it. My hands are shaking. No one is going to save me but myself.

The twin takes a bullet in the chest, then another and another. I miss a few times and when I run out of ammo I drop the gun. Which is stupid. But the thing is teetering and bleeding a fine shadowy mist. It falls back and the mist flows gently down the incline to rest against the pillar.

I grab my camera and check the footage. It's awkward, but it captured enough of it to make sense of. It's better than people thinking I'm crazy. Who am I kidding? We're both going to get looked at the same way Lara's dad got looked at. I make a mental note to ask Lara about it. She always chafed to step away from her father's nuttiness and make her own mark on the world as a legitimate archaeologist.

So naturally she stumbled onto weather goddesses and ancient rituals and now these skulls. That thrumming is loud in my ears. It wants me to find it. Now how the hell do I get up there? The pillar is smooth and black. Obsidian, maybe. Does this area even have obsidian? I don't know, I'll have to look it up, but I can't exactly use the google right now. I miss the google.

The last time we'd found one of these places there had been kind of like a puzzle. It had required both of us to trigger the platform. God help me if this needs two people too. So I circle the thing, filming as I go, and then start investigating the outer edge of the chamber. There's something odd about the stone in one spot, and I push it in. The pillar spins and lowers a little bit. The stone pushes back out and the pillar spins back to it's normal height.

"Oh. Oh! You're fucking kidding!" I see more of the stones. I push the button again and time how long it takes to reset. This is going to suck but I think I can do this. I walk back down the incline and position my camera, then I go back up to the button I'd found. I start by walking around, trying to make sure I can find all of them, pushing buttons as I go, but just walking isn't fast enough. I return to the first one. I push the button and run, slapping my hand against each new button. It's exciting! It's also so terrifying that I want to question my sanity. The pillar rumbles and the stone grinds together as it lowers further with each button I hit.

When I hit the last one, I sprint towards the pillar, and my prize. The energy in the air flows through me, and I feel a lot less exhausted as I clambor up onto the platform. It's like I'm supercharged but I'm afraid to touch the thing with my bare hands. I wrap it in a cloth and stick it in my backpack, ignoring the shock that courses through me. No time for niceties, though I use the camera to record the markings on it's alter. They're almost exactly the same as the last time. Swirls of abstract red and white paint, and the longer I stay there the more aware I am of a feeling of joy. Like I did what it wanted. The last one had led Laura, and this one has led me. Creepy.

I look at the skull, peeking up out of my pack. It glows lightly from some kind of inner red light, but that fades, leaving behind something that looks like a skull shaped ruby. "So I've got you. Are you happy? Now we've just got to get out of here."

It doesn't respond and I'm almost surprised when it doesn't. I feel drawn to it, like I had towards it's brother. Or sister. There's something familiar about it, something that reaches into me. I shake the feeling off. "I see you're going to be a great conversationalist. That's okay, I can totally carry on a conversation for both of us."