- Chase In The Sahara Desert

Lara was suddenly lifted up from the soon to be ruins of the tomb having just been saved from an almighty fall into darkness and rubble. As soon as she was back on land, Lara took this chance to catch her breath. Taking in some deep breaths and looking straight at the sandy ground, she didn't immediately see the person who saved her yet, but she was in for a surprise when she found out.

"Thank you so much...IT'S YOU!" Lara gasped, she certainly was completely stunned to see the person who had just saved her.

"Yeah it's me, luckily I've arrived just in the nick of time so...surprise!" Kurtis said. All he could do was smile at Lara, he was certainly fortunate to have found and saved her right at that very moment.

"But...how!?" Lara was still flabbergasted of how Kurtis knew exactly where they were. Had he been following or tracking them all this time, or was it something else. However Lara wasn't going to get her answer just yet.

"I'll explain later, Lara we have to get outta here now! Copper's reinforcements are tailing right behind me, we are outnumbered!" Kurtis warned her, he glanced around but there was no sign of them at the moment.

"Where's Copper!? I have a bone to pick with him about some unfinished business!" Lara angrily stated, she too looked around the area but there was only her and Kurtis present.

"They must have got away in a different direction, I've really only arrived just now."

"Okay, so what do you have in mind to avoid a confrontation with them?" Lara quizzed Kurtis, knowing that any minute or two the reinforcements would be there.

"We'll outrun them in this, over here." Kurtis went round to a close sand dune that had been perfectly shaped to conceal something to the size of a big truck depending from which angle you view it from. It was there he showed Lara what he had used to get where they were. A two door Jeep 4×4 Wrangler in a shade of blue paint with a tuned 3.6 litre V6 engine had been parked right within the curvature boundary of the crescentic dune.

"What do you think?" Kurtis asked her.

"Yeah it looks like a great ride." Lara smiled back at him after a quick examination of the car, she really liked the look and spec of the vehicle. Kurtis threw her the ignition keys as she got closer to the drivers' side.

"Here, try out the car." Kurtis said. However just as she was about to open and view the interior, there was a sudden sound of roaring engines approaching very near to where they are.

"There they are! After them!" Came a shout from not too far away, and looking to the left some cars were coming across from the edge of the horizon.

"Blast! They've come earlier than I expected, punch it Lara!" Quickly they both got into the car, seatbelts fastened straight away knowing they were in for a very uncomfortable ride.

The engine burst into life as Lara turned the keys then stamped hard on the accelerator, and within a mere few seconds they were already speeding through the sand. The enemies were on the back-end, following them with a certain agenda to capture both Lara and Kurtis either dead or alive. Looking in the interior mirror and both of the wing mirrors, Lara counted out four cars behind in full pursuit.

"Let's give them a ride to remember."

"Right on!"

Even though they were within an open deserted area where there was nowhere to hide, there was still a chance of outmanoeuvring the chasers through the many sand dunes and summits. Lara sharply turned the steering wheel of the car over to the right side, heading towards a series of dunes. Luckily for Lara and Kurtis the car kept its traction up well upon the sandy terrain. However so did the enemies choice of vehicles too, as they were without a doubt fully determined to capture their ordered targets. Coming up to the first sand dune shaped by the blowing winds throughout time, it had grown in considerable size. Judging by the curvature of the dune, it was a perfect chance for them to use the potential of the car. Accelerating closer to the dune, Kurtis caught on to Lara's thinking.

"Whoa, Lara are you planning what I think you're planning?"

"I certainly am, hold on Kurtis, I'm not sure how this will end!" Lara replied, and she began to steer towards the angular edge of the sand dune.

As they reached the lower level of the dune Lara kept the car at a good steady pace. It was not long until they started to elevate upon the dune. Glancing in the car interior mirror, the duo saw that the pursuers were tailing and copying their move too as well as driving along the dune's curve. Unbeknownst to them though, they didn't expect their next move to be so sudden and risky. At the top most of the concave dune, Lara took her chance of using the car's excellent traction on the current terrain to it's full potential, and she turned the wheel ever so steadily to the left upon the dune. Within that very tense moment, Lara managed to successfully drive over the top of the sandy hill.

Now going down the slope and picking up speed, Lara quickly looked back into the interior and side mirrors. She saw that only one of the cars had been able to keep up with them, so she assumed that the other three must have gone round the dune or would soon copy the same move, then out of the blue...

CRASH!

At least one of the chaser cars must have toppled over upon the dune summit as it sounded like they didn't get enough momentum to go over it. This was confirmed by the missing two cars from before now showing up right behind Lara and Kurtis, continuing their mission of full pursuit.

"One down, three to go!" Kurtis cheered on. He used his mysterious psychic abilities to quickly delve into the minds of the pursuers and foresaw that nothing would discourage their rash determination of capturing the duo. They were supposedly going to be rewarded with great riches if they accomplished their given orders.

"Yeah! Now for the next three!" Lara pointed out.

"I have an idea, how about over there? That won't do their cars' suspensions or tyres any good, and I know this one will be okay as long as we are tread carefully along." Kurtis suggested, though Lara initially thought it wasn't a good idea.

"How would we get through that? The tyres would be torn if I make one wrong turn."

"Aha, this car has a trick up it's sleeve. It's been fitted with special tyres that are optimised to furthermore endure rough and tough surfaces, I'm sure we'll be okay." Kurtis replied, Lara gave it a quick thought and came up with her reply.

"Alright then, let's go for it!"

The environment and terrain soon changed as they reached the spot. Exposed random rocks were what formed this vast part of the land. Each one consisted of different layers and shapes, and additionally some featured sharp jagged rims, enough to puncture or even rip through a tyre at any critical point. This was Kurtis's plan, if the chasers were that reckless in their pursuit as he had foreseen, they could make mistakes that would cost them dearly, just like the first enemy car that had fallen earlier.

Immediately as they drove upon the first few metres of the new territory it was a very bumpy ride, even though the car absorbed most of it's harshness through it's suspension. Noticeably Lara was very cautious to which direction she was heading towards, not only did she had to avoid any pits or rocks that could be their downfall, but she also had to lure the followers behind into some sort of trap. Luckily it wasn't that long until a shout came from the back.

"STEADY!" A loud voice warned another, but it was already too late.

HHHIIIISSSSSSS!

The caught right front tyre rapidly deflated, rendering the car useless to drive any further. Ignoring a part of their fellow team, the others continued their chase of Lara and Kurtis.

"Two down, two to go!" Lara gladly pointed out, Kurtis joyfully smiled back at her but his happy emotion soon changed into a worried one.

"Hang on Lara, I'm sensing something amongst our trailers behind, a plan or some sort to..." Kurtis stopped in the middle of his sentence and concentrated directing his psychic energy to the task.

Again, using his mystic abilities Kurtis delved into and overheard the short discussion that was happening right at that moment.

"I've had enough games! We won't be able to catch up to them at this rate, it's time to go lethal!" One of the enemies urged on to their comrades, they all thought in that short space of time, when another expressed their view of fully supporting the idea.

"Yeah let's do it! Are we all agreed on this!?" The person rallied on, almost in essence they spoke like a leader.

"Agreed!" They all cheered on the notion.

"Time to end this little game!"

From overhearing this talk, Kurtis instantly told Lara what he had heard.

"Watch out Lara! They're getting their guns out ready to attack us!" Kurtis informed her. Lara instantly gave her response to the situation.

"Well, if they now want a proper fight, let's give them a good fight back!"

"Yeah!"

Kurtis got out his Boran X prototype pistol and took aim at the one of the vehicles.

BANG! BANG! BANG!

Two of his bullets had hit the metal grille of the left car punching holes through it's mesh, but this didn't have any immediate effect. The third bullet however was more effectual, first it went right through the windscreen causing it to crack to a great degree, and secondly the bullet then became fully lodged within one of the passengers.

"ARGH!" A shocked enemy exclaimed, as the bullet went directly into their arm.

"Fire! Fire!" An unnamed person from behind screamed out.

A bombardment of bullets came from the two cars and straight onto the bodywork of the car. In reaction to this, Lara swerved the vehicle heavily to the right, with her foot hitting the accelerator fiercely straight after. A massive rush of speed came promptly and they were pacing through the rocky field at a fast rate. Almost too fast though, as they were now leaping into airborne across from one rock to another in the desert.

SLAM! THUD! THUMP!

"WHOA!" They both shouted out in reaction to the harsh landings from mid-air. As luck would have it their enemies fared much worse in the environment they were in. The sound of a struggling car was heard, no doubt the rough territory had damaged some parts of the chassis. Kurtis's plan had worked, and very soon after their car grounded to a halt.

"NO!" An angry cry came from afar at the back.

"Looks like another car has broken down from too much damage!" Kurtis observed, seeing the third enemy vehicle falling behind.

"Great! Now what about this last one?" Lara indicated, they both thought in that minute until Kurtis considered to try again with his firing upon the last car.

"Leave it with me."

Despite the uneasy ride Kurtis did his best to aim at a critical point to the last car. With his Boran X he made his move.

BANG! BANG!

This time around fortune came to Kurtis as the two shots pierced and went right through the left tyre, causing it to quickly deflate and stopping the last of the sent followers.

"Argh! Curse you both!" One of the enemies blurted out aloud to Lara and Kurtis,

"Cheerio!" They both waved and sarcastically replied.

Getting out of the rough rocky terrain, Lara and Kurtis had gained enough distance away from the final chasers, and now were somewhere within the desert.

"Phew, I think that's all of them!" Kurtis said after looking back to see if anyone was still following them.

"Now, where do we go from here?"