Death Raids A Heart

Pt. VI

Amazon River, Peru
08:00 hrs

Early the next morning, Lara woke up refreshed but sore from having her back scratched by the jaguar only yesterday. After having another dream about her parents, she quickly composed herself before following Jonah along, collecting plants to her liking as they passed a waterfall that provided the slightest glimpse of a rainbow before stumbling upon a road, and Trinity. Covering herself in mud, Lara blended into the bushes and snuck along, dispatching strays of Trinity soldiers before the two continued along a path that took them directly to Kuwaq Yaku, which was filled with citizens that brought the two survivors relief. 

There, a woman caught their interest as she was the only person who bothered to greet the two survivors when Jonah politely asked for a suitable place to occupy for the night. While they were lucky that the woman's place was where they could afford to stay, she bought them drinks where they sat at a table at a tavern, where Lara placed a gun, photograph of Mayan ruins and a camera on the table, catching the woman's interest. Though the woman remained cautious, she ignored the weapon in front of her before starting another conversation. 

"So, what are you here for, exactly?" The woman now known as Abby, inquired. 

"Well, we were following a riddle when our plane went down." Jonah answered as he sat up straight in the chair he was in. 

"You mean it crashed?" 

"Yeah." 

"And you just walked out of the crash?" 

"Uh, well, you know, it was cruising pretty low." 

When a moment of awkwardness fell onto the three, Lara now spoke by drawing onto her and Jonah's purpose in Peru, which they were aware that Mayan ruins weren't such a common thing in Peru when the bartender came along and served them three bottles of beer that Abby distributed to Lara and Jonah, keeping one for herself, already taking a big gulp after long hours of non-stop work. 

"Well, you don't seem like a typical archaeologist," said Abby to Jonah. 

"Oh, she's the archaeologist. I'm, I'm just the cook." Jonah replied shyly. 

"Really? Have you tried any of our local ceviche yet? It's a specialty." 

"Not unless it grows in the jungle." 

"Aw. Don't tell me you missed our famous Fish Trees?" 

Another moment of awkwardness came around. Lara seemed to notice that from Jonah's laugh of a response, he may have seemed to take a liking to the native woman. Drawing onto the only thing that could keep the conversation going, Abby picked up the photograph Lara took and asked about it, to which Jonah answered that they took it in Mexico which struck Abby's interest further. 

Abby continued to stare at the photo before looking up at Lara and said. "Oh, I've seen this symbol before. There are some ruins nearby and a small rock with something like this carved on it." 

"Do you mind if I take a look around?" Lara asked politely, her hands already on the table as she itched to get back into the action. 

"Nah. Be my guest. But I guarantee they are not Maya. My people were Inca, and proud of it." 

When Lara motioned to stand, Jonah did so automatically until Lara stopped him from fully leaving his seat. Now that she had the opportunity, Lara gave her faithful companion time to relax while she looked around and familiarised herself with Kuwaq Yaku, when really, she was giving Jonah a chance to form a bond with Abby. Twenty minutes had gone by since Lara wandered around the town, exploring what she could before entering Incan ruins Abby mentioned. Not a few minutes later and Jonah was back in Lara's company, examining the site when they approached a wall with symbols on it before finding the temple she was after, only for Trinity to reveal themselves by attempting to blast their way into the temple. 

Making haste, Lara dashed off to the temple when her walkie-talkie picked up an open radio channel from Trinity soldiers who informed the other that Dominguez had arrived in Peru - by the sounds of it, far less trouble than what Lara and Jonah experience on their way to Peru. In a private village occupied by Trinity forces, Lara swam through a lake, dispatching soldiers when she could as she advanced towards a Trinity-controlled Porvenir base camp. Silently and with great effectivity, Lara silently eliminated Trinity soldiers, where she came to discover a man whose name she recognised from Mexico, was also present in Peru under the name of Commander Rourke whose job was to secure a dig site below an oil well. 

In the excavation site, bodies were littered with blood smeared over the floor, fires were lit but slowly dying as her following Trinity's trail lead her to a gate she had to open. Once through, she took note of things that peaked her interest before it fell mainly onto a mural scribing a journey, from what Lara could make out. By making an underwater escape from the temple, Lara returned to trekking through the forest, silently dispatching more Trinity forces along the way when a humanoid figure jumped a soldier with full body armour before the attacker vanished. 

"Jonah? Abby?" Lara called. 

"Hey Lara," answered Jonah. 

"I saw something. Trinity is being hunted by some kind of creature. It makes hissing sounds, and it moves so fast..." 

From the other end of the frequency, Abby spoke, briefly explaining what Lara was seeing beyond the dead bodies. "Lara, that sounds like the legend of the Pishtaco. You pulling our leg?" 

"No. I know what I saw." 

"You know... we've both seen some crazy stuff in the past. Are you safe?" Jonah asked concerningly. 

"Yeah. I'm on my way back." 

Through some ruins, Lara collected scraps and materials she could use to benefit her weapons as well as plants before she found herself back in Kuwaq Yaku, next to the ruins where she caught up to Jonah and Abby waiting for her by the mouth of a jaguar, only to find themselves separated once more, leaving the brunette to meet them at the end of the ruins. Towards a drop into a pool of water, Lara staggered over the edge before catching herself so to make a decent jump into the water below that took her through the Trial of the Spider - as per the description she read previously after embarking on the journey from the temple - along to the next Trials before she would come to the Hidden City. 

"What's at the end of these trials? The Hidden City, but... what else? I hope Jonah and David's alright. I could really use some comfort right now. But then again, I did make him stay back home. Home..."