Sweet Dreams

Chapter 2

Lara jumped down from a ledge, Nathen following close behind her. They were in the depths of the forest now, the lush flora growing all around them. Lara had suggested they find shelter before night, so that's what they were doing. However the thunderous rain made it hard to see, and it had already turned night. A small tug of Lara's arm made her look back to Drake.

"Look!" He yelled over the rain, pointing to a cave entrance a few paces away. Lara nodded before the two took into a sprint towards the formation. They barrelled in, the large cavern taking them by surprise. It was a lot bigger than they both thought, big enough to fit a large town, and maybe a few fields along the way.

They started to build a fire, ringing out their clothes as they constructed the base. Nathan had gathered some sticks along the way, and there was moss growing along the cave walls. Tearing that off and placing it under the sticks, Nathan chipped some stones together and was happy to find a spark light the moss underneath. Sitting back as the fire lit the cave, they both sat back and relaxed, finally having a moment to catch their breath.

"Now what?" Lara asked, looking over to the brown haired adventurer. He shrugged his shoulders, laying his back against the rock wall and putting his arms behind his head, "I say we both just rest. It's been an eventful day,"

Lara yawned in response, only realising how actually tired she was. Copying Nate's example, she tucked her legs in close to her and put her arms on her knees. Resting her forehead against her arms, she quickly fell asleep, Nate's snoring and the rain showers being the last things she heard.

--

Gunshots.

Lara woke with a jump, looking around wildly for the source of the sound. The fire had died, and Nathan...

Was gone?

Shit.

Jumping up, Lara looked around. There was a path down to the large cavern, so Lara followed that. New daylight shone in from the large crater in the celling, illuminating the cave. She could see down to a small group of people down by the large lagoon, and they were shooting into the water. Something was in it. Lara suddenly realised what was happening. Not something, someone.

Nate, Lara quickly realised, quickening her steps. She was nearly down when she tripped on something, very nearly falling over the edge. Catching her breath, Lara crawled away from the ledge, and back into the object she had tripped on. It was a skeleton.

Nearly choking, Lara looked away, her breath laboured. It took a good moment before she looked back, noticing the objects slung against its back. There was a bow, and a quiver with about 12 arrows. Staring at it for a moment, she quickly tugged it off its back, taking the quiver with it. Placing the quiver on her back, she tested the bow. Satisfied with its condition, she continued down the path, getting ever quieter as she approached them.

Her heart was beating in her mouth when she pulled the first arrow. They were still shooting, but at a ledge. Following their sights, she could see Nathan hiding behind what looked like a statue. She positioned herself behind a large rock pillar. It had some kind of engravings in it, but she didn't much care at the moment. Taking a breath, she peeked from the rock and shot her first arrow, a loud yell surprising her.

There was a rush of footsteps towards her as Lara's heart quickened. She needed to hide.

Nate, who was previously defending himself against never ending bullets, turned and looked as a surprised yell came from beneath him. It took him a minute to figure out what happened, seeing as he didn't see the arrow in one of the men's shoulders. He looked around confused for a bit, only to spot a figure hiding behind a pillar with a bow clutched in its hands.

"Lara?" he asked quietly, taking the chance he had to shoot a few rounds into the swarm of lunatics. The few shots were returned with many more, one catching him off-guard and grazing his cheek. He yelped in surprise, shuffling further in against the strange statue he was taking shelter behind.

They remained like that for a while, shooting and returning shots. Soon enough, Nathen found he was the only one shooting. Realising his stupidity, Nathen scowled at himself. Lara had a bow and most likely a small number of arrows.

Suddenly, a loud, animalistic roar rattled the cave and everybody in it. Nathen covered his ears momentarily, the noise sending a spitting headache into his skull. He looked over the edge once again, searching for the source. What he had not expected was to be tapped on the shoulder from behind him.

Yelping, Nate turned quickly, his finger lightly pressing the trigger of his nearly empty pistol. He very nearly shot too, if he hadn't instantly had the gun shoved to the side. Looking up, his saw the face of Lara staring at him, her eyes wide and panicked looking. His instinct was to ask what was wrong, but he realised what had happened soon after. A painful looking, deep gash was on her right bicep, and it was bleeding freely.

"What--?" He asked, but was silenced as Lara placed a hand to his mouth. She gave him a stare as if to say - "Shut up you idiot!" which Nate returned with a stare as to say – "Why?"

Lara pointed back down to the crater, to where to giant creatures stood, the bloodied bodies of the once shooting lunatics laying torn and scattered everywhere. Nate nearly got sick. Nearly.

Lara gestured for him to follow, which he did. The two found themselves creeping along a cave wall, following a light in the far back ceiling. They eventually reached it, wiggling out into a fresh daylight. Once they were out, they both took a breath, finally free of the damp cave air.

"What...were those?" Nate asked finally, staring back into the small split they had crawled out of. Lara couldn't respond. She had been too lucky to get away in the first place to carefully study them. All she knew was that they were big, and dangerous, "I don't know, but let's not go back to find out."

"Yeah," Nate responded.

Lara suddenly hissed as her arm started to burn. Turning her attention to the wound, she found it looked much, much worse in daylight. It had cut a few inches into her skin, and her entire forearm was nearly red with the amount of blood pooling from it. She touched it softly, only to end up flinching back, another hiss escaping from behind her teeth. The noise caught Nate's ears.

"You okay?" he asked, looking to her. She nodded stiffly, wiping some of the blood off the wound. Nate stared at the gash, before tearing a small scrap of fabric from his shirt and walking over to her. Lara stared in interest as Nate wrapped the dark blue fabric around her arm. She snarled as Nate tightened it, earning an apologetic "Sorry" from the American.

"Come on, let's get out of here," Nate stated, helping the British woman to her feet.