Disclaimer: I do not own the characters of Lady Lara Croft and Sam Nishimura
Author's Note: Thanks for being patient! I'm still recovering from surgery and piled up with school work but I've managed to punch out this rubbish in the last week or so. Try to enjoy!
"Well that's never good," Lara muttered, staring down at the grenade.
"Fuck!" yelled Sam. She leaned down and grabbed the grenade, throwing it as far as possible as soon as she straightened out again.
As the grenade reached the peak of the throw, it exploded loudly and shook the room, making Sam topple over. Lara caught her as she watched the grenade. The sound sent her flying into panic and she squeezed her eyes shut, gripping Sam's shoulders tightly.
Once the explosion had subsided, Sam pulled away and grabbed Lara's shoulders before giving her a shake. Lara's eyes remained shut.
"Lara!" Sam growled.
This got a response. Although her eyes didn't flicker, Lara violently tugged at Sam's waist, causing their hips to knock together fiercely.
"Lara," Sam whispered, her own eyes flickering shut. She was desperate to leave the room before another attack, but was all too aware of Lara's breasts pressing against her own.
"Lara, we have to go," Sam whispered half-heartedly. "Let me go."
Lara tugged on Sam again, opening her eyes this time. She lowered her head down to Sam's right ear.
"Don't tell me what to do," Lara growled, brushing her nose against the top cartilage of her girlfriend's ear.
Lara leaned further, slipping her tongue through her lips and letting it flicker over Sam's earlobe. She was thankful that some of the blood had started to dry up and fall off.
After making Sam shudder at this, Lara pushed her away and made for the door again. She knew it turned Sam on when she acted dominant.
Sam sighed heavily and bit her lip. As Lara grabbed the door handle, another two grenades landed by their feet.
"Over there!" shouted Sam, having seen where the grenades came from.
Picking up one grenade each, they threw them in the direction of Sam's arm. Since they reacted quicker this time, the grenades landed before exploding. The floor shook harder and both women fell to the floor, hearing a loud scream as they did so. They must have killed someone.
"Let's just go," Lara ordered, hurrying to her feet.
Sam quickly followed, pushing Lara's back and urging her to speed up. Lara grabbed hold of the door once again and, despite two grenades landing by her feet and one bouncing off her shoulder, she pushed the door open and tumbled through it, dragging Sam with her. As soon as she was sure they were both over the threshold, Lara slammed the door shut and dived forward as an attempt to put as much space as possible between herself and the grenades. She felt Sam land next to her as she covered her ears and closed her eyes. Only moments later there were three explosions, one after the other. The floor shook even more and Lara felt the sound vibrate through her body. She took her right hand away from her ear and clutched Sam's hand as the sound died down. Lara let out a sigh of relief, but as the explosion fell away, its rumble was replaced with that of another kind. It was a kind of revving sound and as it got louder, Lara realised there were multiple layers of the sound on top of each other. At first she thought the sound was coming through speakers, but as she and Sam sat up and looked around, it was evident that the sound was getting closer, not just louder.
"What is that?" Sam asked, scooting up to Lara and looking up.
The room was pretty dark; Lara could only make out a few shapes. The noise was fast approaching and Lara suddenly understood.
"Cars!" she yelled at Sam.
Less than a second later, Cow Blood's signature floodlights lit up the room and, to the women's surprise, they were sat on a race track with six karts zooming towards them.
They both cursed loudly and scurried to their feet. They jumped off the track just in the nick of time, landing messily on the floor.
"It's definitely Mario Kart," Sam murmured, sitting up on her knees and taking in the scenery.
"You don't say," sniggered Lara. "Who's being dramatic now?"
Sam shoved her shoulder but Lara shook her head instead of retaliating. She sat up so her back was off the ground, supported by her arms.
They sat and watched the karts drive round a few times (with no drivers) before Sam spoke.
"I never thought I'd say this since I got here... but can we just sit here for a while?"
Lara smiled and moved Sam's hair out of her eyes.
"Course we can, Sammy."
Sam laid down, her head resting on Lara's lap, and closed her eyes. Lara stroked her hair and thought quietly to herself.
This was tough. She was happy to be reunited with Sam, but she was anxious to leave. The place was obviously dangerous and Cow Blood had eyes on every room; he could do anything he wanted to them. Despite their sitting in what was probably the safest room in the building, Lara thought there must be a catch. She wanted to keep moving but she knew Sam needed rest- this was physically and mentally exhausting for the both of them. Lara had no doubt it would stick with them forever, just as Yamatai had. Then again, Sam hadn't been so gravely effected by Yamatai, so perhaps Sam would be able to pull through this too. Lara hoped so.
The peace didn't last for long.
There was a crackle on the speaker.
"I'd get a move on if I were you, Lady Croft," growled Cow Blood.
Sam jumped at the sound of his voice.
"It's okay," Lara hushed her, rubbing her arm and kissing her head. "It's okay, let's just keep going."
They got up and walked round the track to the start line. The track was like a stadium- just a single loop that went round a green patch of grass in the centre. There were stands for an audience, but they remained empty.
As they approached the start line, the karts that were racing round began to slow to a halt as they joined the women, getting into a staggered position to start the race. As well as the cars that were already on the track, two new ones drove out from the pit stop. They were much bigger than the others, presumably so Lara and Sam could fit inside them. The first was blue with 'LARA' printed across the front in block capitals. The other was green with 'SAM' printed likewise.
"Here we go," Sam murmured, making towards her kart.
"Wait," ordered Lara, holding out an arm. "Let me try something."
She started towards Sam's kart, smiling to herself.
"Lara don't mess with him," Sam sighed.
Lara didn't listen, and attempted to jump over the small door on the side of the kart in order to land in the seat. However, as she did so, the bunch of karts revved violently and set off their horns and alarms. Lara fell back on the floor in shock.
"Nice try," Cow Blood sniggered through the speakers.
Lara stood up and brushed herself off, murmuring, "Whatever" as she did so.
Sam kissed her cheek before getting into her kart. Lara did the same before a traffic light set descended in front of them. As it counted down from red to green, Lara got her feet in position on the pedals before flooring it as soon as the last beep sounded. She regretted it instantly. The kart flew out of her control and she almost crashed at the first bend, twisting the steering wheel with all her might to try and round the corner. She managed it and didn't slow down- Lara was determined to win this one.
It didn't take long for Lara to realise she was first, but it was a different story for Sam- despite her best efforts to mimic Lara's action of flooring the pedal, her kart wouldn't pass the 15 mph mark. As Lara drove round the second corner and along a straight part of the track, she noticed that Sam was still on the straight area that was parallel. She frowned, continuing to keep her speed up; if Sam wasn't going to win, it would be up to her.
Reaching the start line, it occurred to Lara that Cow Blood had complete control of the karts- they had entered without drivers, after all. Perhaps he was slowing Sam down. But why?
Lara soon caught up with Sam and managed to shout above the engine sounds.
"What's going on?!" she yelled.
"I don't know! It won't go any faster and it's steering by itself!" Sam shouted back.
"Just keep going! I'm going to try and win!"
By this time, as Lara had slowed down to Sam's pace, one or two karts had started to gain on them, so Lara sped up again to put more road between them. As she reached the bottom of the track again it had changed; there was a pit stop. Lara failed to see why this had been put there since the races were generally only 3 short laps, but she continued on past it to finish her second lap.
As Lara reached the start line again, she was neck and neck with a small green kart next to her. It said 'Luigi' on the front and had a much louder engine than the rest. She scowled at it before zooming ahead through the line and onto the first corner. As she rounded it, she looked across the track for Sam, but failed to spot her. Squinting, Lara managed to see her at the far end of the track. Her kart seemed to be slowing. Then Lara realised she was screaming.
"Shit... What now?" Lara murmured.
Despite Lara's speed, it seemed to take forever to reach Sam. When she did, what she found wasn't good: Sam's kart was headed for the pit stop which was now occupied by five men in green jumpsuits. Lara recognised them as some of the footballers they had faced earlier on. On approaching the pit stop, Lara's kart suddenly jerked out of her control and sped into the pit stop. Sam was just in front and her car was slowing to a stop next to the men in green jumpsuits. Moments later, Lara involuntarily pulled up behind her where five men in blue jumpsuits appeared from round a corner and walked maliciously towards her.
Shit, Lara thought. Now we're screwed.
"Sam! Sam, it's going to be okay!" she screamed.
In front of her, Sam was clearly struggling in her seat, squirming this way and that. When Lara tried to ditch her kart and run, she understood why- not only was Cow Blood controlling the karts, he also wouldn't allow them to leave.
The men in green jumpsuits were now grabbing Sam by the arms and lifting her. The movement restrictions were lifted and the men were able to move her from the car.
"Sam!" Lara roared. "Sam, fight back!"
Lara could see that Sam was trying, but before she could go to help, the men in blue jumpsuits were doing the same to her. Like Sam, she was lifted out and pinned to the floor. She heard Sam scream loudly as she took a blow to the head. Then the same happened to Lara. Then she was unconscious.