Disclaimer: I do not own the characters of Sam and Lara.
Author's Note: I'm so sorry for the delay! I was back in hospital on my usual day of writing so I was behind on school work so I didn't have time to write. I've also had issues with work at school and my diary is full of coursework right now so less frequent updates looks likely right now. Sorry everyone! Please enjoy and review!
"Lara I don't wanna do this anymore," Sam whimpered, crippling to her knees with her eyes on the floor.
"Me neither," Lara sighed as she tried to wipe the blood away from her eyes and mouth.
She leant down and did the same to Sam- though to little effect- before standing up straight again and looking over the terrain to their front.
"You know we have to," Lara muttered, seizing Sam's arm and pulling her to her feet.
Sam nodded and made a fruitless attempt to disperse the blood around her eyes, like Lara had done, before joining her girlfriend in looking across the Mario setting.
"Do you know how to play?" Lara asked, looking at Sam.
"Sure. It's easy."
Lara was quiet, hoping Sam would pick up on her hints.
"You want me to go first?" Sam asked, sighing.
Lara nodded.
Sam nodded in response and set off under the flashing sign, stepping up onto a podium of bricks. Lara followed suit, suddenly becoming more aware of the theme tune that played in their ears. Sam pointed at the floor.
"I think it's poisonous," she murmured, pointing at a large tortoise that crawled slowly like a prowling sentry. "On Mario, you have to jump on them to kill them."
"Do you think it'll be the same for this?" Lara asked.
"Well... I assume jumping on it would work."
Lara shrugged, supposing she was right. Sam jumped off the podium and onto the tortoise, landing with a simultaneous crunch and splat. Sam groaned in disgust as she found herself covered in tortoise guts and blood. If this had happened to her prior to the whole blood ordeal, she might have screamed, but the new arrival of blood on her clothes made little difference now. Lara grimaced at the mangled tortoise before jumping down next to it to join Sam. They were on grass now and they were faced with a large mushroom that slid up and down on some kind of pole. The mechanics were shoddy, as though it was put together in a matter of minutes, yet a lot of thought had obviously gone into the whole building of the place.
Sam waited until the mushroom descended fully before jumping onto it. Lara followed once the mushroom had gone up and back down again. There was plenty of space for them both, and so there had to be: there was a large gap in front of them where the floor disappeared before reappearing in the form of desert sand and cacti. Between the two of them, they decided that Lara should jump first in order to scale how big the jump was; she was, after all, the better athlete.
She had to put some effort in to make the jump, but Lara managed to land on her feet with a light thud. This room didn't seem to echo so much, but she suspected this was due to the fact the room was packed with Mario scenery and had music blaring from every corner. Lara turned to encourage Sam to jump over when the music stopped.
Both women stopped suddenly.
When nothing happened, Lara spoke.
"Come on, Sam. Jump!"
Sam did so, landing on her feet but overbalancing and falling on her hands and knees onto the sand. Lara placed her hands round Sam's waist to help her back up.
"Okay?" she asked.
Sam nodded. They kissed briefly before turning to identify their next obstacle. There was no obvious obstruction in front of them, so Lara grabbed Sam's hand and walked swiftly ahead. All caution seemed to have left her by this time; she was no longer worried about being attacked, she just wanted to get out of there with Sam by her side.
"Wait!" yelled Sam suddenly, snagging Lara back.
Sam was looking down at the sand so Lara followed her gaze. She could see nothing unusual.
"What?" Lara asked, looking at Sam.
Sam frowned silently.
"Sam we really don't have time for th-"
Sam crouched down and started to brush away the sand with caution. As she did so, a shiny metal surface started to appear. Eventually, a metal strip followed by a gap was uncovered. Sam stepped back and grabbed a stone from the floor.
"Step back," she ordered Lara.
Despite herself, Lara couldn't help but smile; she loved it when Sam told her what to do.
Sam threw the rock over the metal strip and Lara jumped back as a band of fire roared up from the floor. It lasted around two seconds before disappearing abruptly. Lara was just starting to relax when the fire reappeared. This happened a few times before Sam spoke.
"Every two seconds. It comes up for two then down for two," she murmured, looking at Lara.
"You're right. Jesus, Sam, if you hadn't spotted that..."
"I know," Sam replied, smiling slightly.
They waited for the fire to come up again, then jumped over the strip as soon as it had died down. Once they were safely away from the fire, Lara pointed up into the air.
"Look," she muttered.
Hanging from the high ceiling was a yellow box with a question mark printed on each side of it. Sam and Lara ran over to it. There was a rounders bat on the floor beside it. It was obvious what they had to do.
Lara picked up the bat with her good hand and swung it lightly to feel the weight of it.
"Stop pretending you're a pro sports player, there's nobody here to show off to," Sam giggled, shaking her head. Although in considerably low spirits, Sam was able to find amusement in Lara's habits. It was always the case.
"I'm not, I'm just feeling the weight of it. Otherwise I won't be able to break the box, will I?" Lara answered irritably.
Sam stifled a laugh at Lara's indignant excuse.
"Sam."
"Yeah?"
"Do me favour and shut up."
Sam sniggered. "Oh get on with it, you drama queen."
Lara sighed before standing with her feet shoulder width apart. She heard Sam smirk behind her, so she shot her a glare before taking an enthusiastic swing at the hanging box. The bottom of the box fell away with ease and two green, army helmets fell out. Lara picked one up and looked questioningly at Sam.
"Question mark boxes always dispense something that will give you an extra line of defence," Sam explained, putting one of the helmets on.
Lara nodded, checking her helmet carefully before putting it on herself.
"Keep an eye out above your head. These helmets weren't for nothing," Lara muttered.
"I got that for myself, thanks, Lara."
Lara shoved her lightly and they both smiled. After a few steps, they had come to a new terrain: snow. It was fake, of course, but the temperature still seemed to drop as they approached it.
"There's another tortoise," Sam pointed out. There was a lumpy mass sticking out from the snow. It was facing them but was completely still.
"I'll do it," Lara offered. She took a long run up before jumping down hard onto the shell. Like last time, shell and guts flew out and onto the floor. The mess stained the snow with red, purple and brown splashes.
"Lovely," Lara sighed.
Sam ran up to join her and took Lara's hand again.
"Looks like we're almost there," she commented, nodding her head up at the door that stood only a few metres in front of them. On approaching it, they found a note pinned to the door. Naturally it was written in red.
Easy, wasn't it? Go on through and take your time. It's not over yet, Lara.
Sam screwed up the note and opened the door confidently. As soon as she did so, a roar of applause and cheering blew up. Sam and Lara frowned at each other before realising why. The green pitch and floodlights said it all: the next game was FIFA.
"One game after another," Lara sighed, shutting the door behind them.
They stood in awe for a while: the pitch in front of them was full length, yet it was still fully inside the same building. Lara found it hard to believe this whole setup had been sculptured for her.
Walking onto the pitch, the women noticed that there was a ball on the centre spot. On the other side, there stood no less than 11 men, all stood in a soldier-like 'at ease' position. None of them made eye contact with the women, but when Sam tried to step over the halfway line without the ball, every man in the room produced a pistol from behind his back. Sam stepped back and stood in position for a kick off. Lara nodded at her before taking position next to the ball, ready to start the match. Now back in the correct positions, each man put his pistol into the waistband of his shorts. Suddenly, the crowd noise died down from the speakers and was replaced with the short blast of a whistle, signalling the start of the match.
"Ready Sammy?" Lara asked, eyebrows raised.
"As ready as I'll ever be."
As soon as the ball touched Lara's foot, she was mobbed by at least three of the opposing players. The football was taken from her almost instantly and there was a goal in no time.
A crackle came across the speakers and Cow Blood's booming growl could be heard: "Three strikes and out, ladies."
"Shit," Lara muttered as she made her way back to the centre spot.
She quietly spoke tactics with Sam before taking her mark by the football again.
Another whistle sounded and she passed the ball to Sam before speeding down the pitch. Sam managed to swerve her way around the slide tackles and kicks that came her way. Once she was a good way into the attacking zone, she chipped the ball across to Lara who had managed to find her way to the net. Lara lifted her leg and let the football bounce off her knee before kicking it hard. Despite a long stretch of the goalie's arm, the ball soared into the back of the net with a violent shake of the netting.
"Yes!" Lara heard Sam exclaim from across the pitch.
But Lara didn't celebrate. At this end of the pitch, she was close to a wall which held two doors. Above each door was a sign: the left one said 'winner' and the right said 'loser'. Lara frowned before noticing more signs, one on each door. The winning door had a sign which read 'Animal Crossing'. The losing door read 'Call of Duty'. This could only mean one thing.
Lara jogged back over to Sam and whispered in her ear.
"Sam, we have to win. If we win this, the next level is Animal Crossing. If not, it's Call of Duty."
"You've gotta be shitting me," Sam said, staring at Lara.
"I'm not. It's three strikes and out. I guess that works both ways. If we can get three goals, we've done it."
"Okay... okay, let's go."
They waited for the opposition to put the ball back in the centre before stepping back. One of the players gestured for Lara to take the ball again, so she did, passing to Sam as soon as the whistle sounded. Lara ran down the pitch straight away, hoping to succeed in the same setup as last time. The players, however, were wise to her tactics. Sam was tackled instantly and, since both girls had ran up the pitch, there was no line of defence, resulting in another goal.
2-1. Great.
"Come on, Sam!" Lara shouted. It was supposed to be a yell of encouragement but came out as more of a command.
Sam shook her head and huffed as she made her way back to her starting to position.
Lara tried to give Sam the chance to start with the ball, but as soon as she mentioned this, each man pulled out his pistol again. Lara put her hands up submissively and stepped back into her original place.
When the whistle blew, Lara passed it to Sam who passed it back immediately. Lara started running with the ball whilst Sam weaved in and out of the attackers. As Lara made an attempt to glide the ball to Sam, the pass was cut by a defender. The defender kicked the ball hard and, with no goalie, it went straight into the back of the net.
There was no celebration. As soon as the ball crossed the line, each player snapped back into soldier mode and started marching towards Sam and Lara.
"No!" yelled Sam desperately.
Lara grabbed her hand and yanked it hard so they would stay together. The soldiers, however, had no intentions of splitting them up. They rounded the girls up like sheepdogs herding sheep. Sam and Lara were surrounded, each player facing inwards so all eyes were on them. Then in one smooth move, every player pulled out his gun and pointed it at Sam. Still marching, they started moving her and Lara towards the doors at the end of the room. Of course they were headed for the door labelled 'loser'. Sam clutched Lara's arm as they got closer, but they both knew better than to resist the soldiers. Instead, they held on to each other with shaking hands until they reached the wall. As they did so, the men to their front parted, making sure to leave no gap between themselves and the wall. Lara and Sam had no choice but to go through the door.
Lara took the lead and pushed the door open. Before she could take in her surroundings, she was shoved onto the floor with Sam following suit. The door slammed behind them. Then the gunshots started.