Disclaimer: I do not own the characters of Lara and Sam.
Author's Note: This is quite a mundane chapter and I admit it's not the best, but I needed to make the story progress a little to get to the more exciting parts. I still very much hope you all enjoy it and, as always, any feedback is appreciated.
When Lara woke up in Sam's arms she was surprised to say the least. Her head rested on Sam's upper chest and their arms were wrapped around each other's waist. It felt weird to Lara. She and Sam had been close friends for years and neither of them had ever mentioned their need for each other. In Lara's opinion, it wasn't because they were too scared to come out with it, it was merely that it never seemed important or necessary to do anything about it until now. Somehow, Lara had always managed to cover her feelings- even from herself- in order to maintain the same work-hard, play-hard relationship she had always had with Sam. Of course she had never managed to bury them completely, but perhaps given them a sprinkling of dirt, just to disguise their appearance. Now though, experiencing how right it felt to lay in Sam's arms, Lara had no idea how she had ever succeeded in neglecting these needs.
She was snapped out of her reminiscing when she felt Sam's fingers glide up and down her waistline. Lara supposed it was meant to be soothing, but it just made her stomach do a back-flip. She lifted away from Sam so she could see her face. Sam was awake and smiling at her.
"You're awake," Sam commented, looking at Lara happily.
"Great observation," Lara croaked. Her voice always made her sound like she had laryngitis in the morning.
"Thanks," Sam croaked back, mimicking her.
Lara finally understood how Sam had got there, remembering her nightmare followed by the sudden realisation that she hadn't been to the gym for long enough.
"Shit, Sam, I have to go to the gym. Come with me, I don't want to leave you here alone," Lara ordered, getting out of bed.
"Wait," said Sam, sitting up and pulling Lara back down by the waist.
Lara giggled and fell back onto the bed.
"Breakfast first," Sam whispered into her ear.
It gave Lara goose bumps.
"Hey. That's not fair," Lara murmured. She flipped over so she was facing Sam and kissed her lips repeatedly.
"I don't... care... if it's... fair, you need... breakfast," Sam said sternly in between kisses.
Lara pulled back and sighed.
"Fine," she muttered. "Breakfast it is."
The two women got dressed in separate rooms before congregating in the kitchen. On the doors of the cupboards stood pieces of file paper showered with notes and maps that Lara had stuck up the previous day.
"You work too hard," Sam sighed, shaking her head.
Lara just shrugged and made them both a cup of coffee and a slice of toast.
They took their breakfast into the living room, but Lara stopped as soon as she entered the room.
"What is it?" Sam asked, putting her drink down on the coffee table. Obviously Lara had seen something with her ridiculously brilliant observer's eye that Sam had missed.
"Look," Lara said, nodding her head towards the light that was cast down onto the hard wooden floor through a gap in the curtain.
"What?" Sam asked again, still not catching on.
"It's red. I mean, it has a reddish hue about it," Lara explained. Her eyes were wide and she crept towards the window like she was stepping towards the electric chair. She deposited her last meal on the coffee table and took steady steps forward, her lips pursed, her ears tensed, her eyes tough, and her face fierce.
"Lara..." Sam started, standing up to join her. But Lara silently put out a hand to stop her.
One hand on the curtain, the other curled into a fist, Lara automatically altered her stance into a fighting poise. Suddenly she whipped back the curtain and lifted her arm, ready to punch. However, Lara was greeted not with a person, but with a message. Streaky letters were painted across the window in a bold red. They read: 'She will be mine next time'.
"What the hell is that supposed to mean?" Sam asked, looking over Lara's shoulder.
Lara didn't answer her. She wiped her finger across the 'S' then inspected it. A red smear had been left across her fingerprint.
"Sam, it's on the inside. Someone was in here last night," Lara muttered, turning round to show Sam.
"I didn't hear anyone, it couldn't have been when I was in here," Sam pointed out.
"What time did you erm... did you... join me?" Lara asked feebly.
If the situation wasn't so serious, Sam would have made fun of her for that.
"I don't know, I didn't look. It was still dark though."
There was a pause.
"Is that written in blood?" Sam asked.
"I don't think so," Lara said, sniffing it.
Sam sat back down whilst Lara went to wash her hands. When she returned, Sam was crying.
"Don't worry, Sam. It will be okay, I promise you," Lara murmured, though she had no idea how she was going to make everything okay. She could run and hunt and build and fight. But she couldn't fight someone who she couldn't find. Then again, she hadn't yet looked.
She sighed as she heard something being posted through the letterbox. It was a small, red envelope with 'MISS.S.N' printed in gold across the top of it. Although the colours were strange, Lara was not initially alarmed. Before The Island, Sam and Lara had shared this house and some of Sam's subscriptions were still posted here.
"It's for you," Lara muttered.
She gave it to Sam who stopped crying immediately. Her face went pale, her Portuguese-Japanese bronze vanishing from her skin. Sam opened the envelope and revealed a white piece of paper with the same red, shaky writing on it.
It read: Your girlfriend was wrong. It was cow blood. And so is this.
Sam screamed and dropped the paper. Lara read it quickly before bolting for the door and out onto the street. There was nobody in sight, but she raced across the cul-de-sac and down the road as quickly as she could. As she reached the main road, the number of cars started to multiply, passing her in all directions. She stood still, panting desperately and searching up and down the street for any sign of a guilty fugitive- though something told Lara this criminal wasn't the guilty type. She was about to give up when she noticed a man in sunglasses peeking over the top of a wall in the next cul-de-sac. He noticed her looking. He grinned maliciously then took off. She was angry.
Much to the dismay of 4 drivers, Lara pelted across the busy road and up the hill of the large cul-de-sac. The man turned a sudden corner and Lara struggled to keep with him. She turned the corner herself only 2 seconds later, but he had already gone. She followed the narrow path that was sandwiched between two houses but came to a dead end created by a 6ft high wall. Lara didn't slow down- she sprinted to the wall and pulled herself up, grazing her elbows and forearms in the process. She expected to see the man running away from her across a garden. Instead, she was greeted by a pair of confused twins who had halted their game of Swingball to stare at her.
"Hi," said the boy closest to her. "I'm Austin. That's Brandon. Who are you?"
They can't be any older than 7, Lara thought. But I have to ask them.
"I'm Lara," she said breathlessly. "You don't happen to have seen a man with dark glasses round here, do you?"
"Why do you speak like that?" Brandon asked quizzically.
"I'm English. Can you answer my question please?" Lara replied impatiently.
"Our dad has dark glasses," Austin piped up, as though suddenly realising.
"Really? Could you go and fetch him for me?" asked Lara, pulling herself up to sit on the wall.
Both of the boys ran inside and reappeared with a tall man wearing a dark blue polo shirt tucked into light blue jeans. He had dark glasses on and carried a long, metal stick. One boy stood clutching each arm. The man was clearly blind.
"She's up on the wall, Dad," one of the boys said. Lara no longer knew which boy was which now they had changed positions.
"Hello?" asked the father, facing slightly to the right of Lara.
"Hello, Sir. I'm sorry to bother you, I was looking for someone who came down this path and he was wearing sunglasses. I asked your sons if they had seen him and well- I suppose they thought I meant you," Lara explained.
The man chuckled. "You sound out of breath. Was this some kind of chase, are you a cop?"
"Yes- I mean no. It was a chase, but I'm not a police officer. Like I said, I'm sorry to bother you. I'll be going now."
She slipped off the wall but the father said, "Why don't you stay for some coffee?"
"Oh no thank you! I really must get back. Bye now!" she shouted over the wall.
She set off on a light jog, getting faster and faster as she thought of Sam alone in the house. Maybe they should have just called the police...
"Sam?" Lara shouted, slightly louder than necessary, when she got back to the house.
There was no reply.
"Sam!" she yelled more urgently. "Sam, bloody answer me!"
There was still silence.
She got to the living room and found it to be empty of people. There was, however, a note on the coffee table, propped up against Sam's coffee. Yet again, it was written in 'blood'.
Lara, Lara, Lara...
I told you she would be mine but I didn't think it would happen that quick. You shouldn't have been so quick to leave little Sammy by herself. You obviously don't love her as much as I thought you did. Now I don't want you to worry, I'm not going to hurt her. Not yet. I like to play with my... food. I like to play games and I'd very much like to play with you. I do encourage you to accept this offer, unless you want your next message to be written in Samantha's blood. And of course we wouldn't want that, would we? I like a good riddle and I love a good Game. It begins here. Let's play.