Dennis woke up the next morning and found Winnie lying on top of him. He smiled.
"Every morning with this." He said. She smiled too.
"Ready to play?" She asked. That's when Dennis thought of something.
"Can I talk to you first?" He asked. She nodded.
"Sure, what's up?" She said. He took a deep breath.
"Well, I know you have a crush on me, so...I thought it was time for me to tell you something." He said. Winnie's heart started racing.
'Is he finally going to tell me he loves me?' She thought to herself.
"I…I…I..." He stuttered. He was feeling really nervous, but it was time for him to finally admit his feelings for his best friend.
"I…have a crush on you too." He said. Winnie then hugged him.
"I knew you did! But why did you keep denying it?" She asked.
"I…was nervous, and I didn't know how to tell you." He said. She then kissed him on the cheek. He gave her a slightly uncomfortable look when she did that. He still wasn't used to her kissing him.
"Eww." He said under his breath. She smiled at his reaction.
"Better get used to it. I'm going to be kissing you a lot more." She said.
"Just don't do it in front of my mommy and daddy okay?" He said. She giggled in response.
"No promises." She said. She then got off of Dennis and he got up. They both left his room and went down the hallway a short ways. Lara was awake and walking down the hallway too. They both looked at her.
"Good morning Lara." Winnie said. Lara looked at them and nodded.
"Hey guys." She replied. Dennis then noticed she had an assault rifle on her back and she had two pickaxes attached to her belt.
"What are the guns for?" He asked.
"That's how I defend myself. Trinity isn't going to just stand by and let me get the artifact." She said. Dennis then nodded.
"Well, I got some work to do. I'll see you guys later." She said. Dennis and Winnie both nodded and continued walking down the hallway. Lara eventually came to the hotel lobby and was greeted by Jonah.
"Ready to go?" He asked. She nodded.
"Let's go." She said. Lara and Jonah then left the hotel to begin their search for the artifact. After traveling for several hours, they eventually reached the cave which was on the other side of Transylvania. They entered the cave and were immediately attacked by some thrall-like creatures. Lara quickly grabbed her assault rifle and shot at the creatures, destroying them.
"That must be the walking dead the inscription was talking about." She said to which Jonah nodded. The two continued exploring the cave and eventually found the artifact sealed behind a stone slab.
"There must be a way to open the door." Jonah said. Lara then noticed some hallways branching off from the main room.
"Wait here. I'll be back." She said. Jonah nodded and Lara went down one of the hallways. After going through a series of challenging puzzles, she went back to the main room and finished off the rest of the rooms. She came back to the main room, and the door was open. The two went in and found the artifact on a pedestal in the middle of the room. It was a gold glowing stone.
"That's it all right." Lara said recognizing it from the book. They both then heard a voice in the darkness.
"Secure the cave." The voice said.
"Shit!" Lara said quickly hiding behind a pillar in the room and Jonah hid behind another pillar. They both peered around and saw a tall man dressed in fancy clothes along with a bunch of Trinity mercenaries. The man walked to the pedestal and grabbed the mercury stone.
"Finally, after all these years of searching, the mercury stone is mine." He said. He then looked at the mercenaries.
"The time of cleansing is here. We will finally rid the world of monsters and humans. Today, a new dawn begins." He said. Lara jumped out from the stone pillar and drew her pistols. She pointed them at the man.
"Drop the stone!" She demanded. The man looked at her.
"Well, well, well. If it isn't Lara Croft." He said.
"You know me?" She asked.
"Yes, you caused us quite a bit of trouble in Siberia." He said.
"Who are you?!" She demanded.
"My name is Pedro Dominguez." He responded.
"Wait a minute, I know that name, you're the leader of Trinity!" She remarked.
"I see you've been doing your homework." He said.
"Why are you doing this? Monsters are no different from us!" She said.
"Monsters have no place in this world. They are a plague and must be purged." He said.
"I won't let you do that!" She screamed. She then started shooting her pistols at him but he dodged every bullet and grabbed Lara by the neck, causing her to drop her pistols.
"Lara!" Jonah screamed. He jumped out from behind the pillar he was hiding and tried to grab Dominguez, but he knocked down by one the other mercenaries. Dominguez tightened his grip on Lara's neck and she was getting paler.
"I don't want to kill you Lara, but if you keep interfering like this, I will kill you." He then let Lara go and she fell to the ground gasping for breath. Dominguez then left with his group of mercenaries with the artifact in hand. Lara quickly got up and grabbed her pistols from the ground and put them in their holsters. She then went over to Jonah and shook him to wake him up. He groaned and looked at her.
"Ugh, what happened?" He asked.
"Trinity got away with the artifact. We have to get back to the hotel right away!" She said. When she said that, Jonah got up really quick. They traveled back to the hotel and found the humans and monsters fighting each other. Dominguez was already trying to destroy humans and monsters.
"Shit! This isn't good!" She said. Jonah nodded and they continued. Eventually they found Dennis trying to fight Winnie.
"Dennis, stop it! What's gotten into you?!" She pleaded. That didn't do any good and he kept going. Lara then pulled out one of her pistols.
"Winnie, watch out!" She said. Winnie looked at her.
"Nooo! Don't shoot him!" She screamed.
"I'm going to scare him off!" She said. She fired a single shot near Dennis and he was scared off by the gunshot. She put the pistol back in it's holster. Winnie ran up to Lara and Jonah.
"Lara, what's going on? Everyone is fighting each other." She said.
"Trinity got ahold of the artifact I was looking for." She said. She then looked at Winnie.
"Wait a minute, why aren't you being affected?" She asked. Winnie shrugged her shoulders.
"I don't know." She said. Lara nodded.
"We need to get the hell out of here." She said.
"But what about Dennis?" Winnie asked.
"Leave him Winnie. He's being controlled, he won't listen to reason." Lara said. Winnie reluctantly did as she was told and the three of them escaped the hotel. They eventually came to an abandoned house in the middle of the forest. Lara went over to the table and sat down. Jonah did the same while Winnie sat down like a dog on the floor next to them.
"What are we going to do?" Jonah asked. Lara looked at him.
"Well obviously, we need to get the mercury stone back." She said. Winnie looked at them.
"I can help you guys with that." She said. Lara looked at her.
"You're a child Winnie! What can you help us with?" She asked.
"I'm not just a pretty face ya know, I know how to fight. My 300 brothers taught me." She said. Lara stared at her with a shocked expression.
"Damn, that's an extensive family." She remarked. Winnie nodded.
"Plus, I can track people using their scent." She said. Lara then stared back at Winnie with surprised expression.
"Really?" She asked. Winnie nodded again.
"That'll help a lot." Lara said. She then yawned.
"Let's get some rest first." She said. Jonah and Winnie agreed and Jonah went over to the couch and laid down on it. There was a bed close to the couch and Lara laid down on that while Winnie laid down on the floor. Lara tossed a pillow to her and Winnie laid her head on it. Jonah and Winnie fell asleep not too long after. Lara couldn't get to sleep however, she felt like she failed in her quest. She then looked at Winnie and noticed she was shivering. Lara grabbed a blanket from the bed and got up and put it on top of her. Winnie sighed in her sleep and this made Lara smile. Lara laid down on the bed again and fell asleep not too long after.