Tale of Lara

Chapter 6

Chapter 6

Maister Griffin

"Survival is tough, but family is tougher!"

< I >Lara felt Sarah'sclaw dig into her arm. They were being thrown through another teleportationrift, squeezed by an insane amount of Gs and unable to breathe. Suddenly, theworld reappeared in a flash of bright light.

"Woah!" Lara cried as she was tossed through the air, and her clawed feet collided with a rusty grate. She lost her balance and stumbled unsteadily a few steps forward like a drunk pub regular before finally tripping and falling on all fours.

Just a heartbeat later, another pair of feet clapped against the metallic floor. The person who landed behind Lara tapped her shoulder and offered a hand for support. The blue dragoness turned after the offered limb and took it.

"You okay?" Sarah Fuga gave her companion a puzzled and somewhat concerned look, tilting her head to the side. Her green eyes were fully focused on the other girl, serpent pupils shrinking to thin lines.

Lara reached out for her and grabbed onto Sarah's armoured shoulder to stabilise her footing. Her head was spinning like crazy from the rift jump. "Yeah," she nodded, although she couldn't have convinced anyone with how unsure she was standing straight in one place.

"Your legs seem to disagree," a glint of mockery appeared on Sarah's face.

"Well, excuse me," Lara snorted and bared her fangs as she fought the motion sickness. "Try getting sucked through a damn tornado and then talk. Pff..." She finally regained control over her footing and let go of Sarah.

Sarah herself chuckled openly and sheathed her aquamarine blade. The weapon slid into its holder on her back with no sign of resistance. "Do you see me having trouble?"

Lara said nothing to that comment and instead looked around. "Where are we?" she said after a brief silence that fell among them. "Underground?"

"Correct," Sarah joined the other girl at observation. "I don't know why I've thought of this place, to be honest."

The scenery looked and smelled familiar, as if Lara had been there not so long ago. They were surrounded by pipelines and water tanks, both enclosed and open, reminding Lara of a swimming pool somewhat. Roughly guessing, they could be within the heart of some wastewater processing facility, significantly larger than the chemical plant she had the pleasure of visiting earlier.

Her stomach rumbled, reminding her she didn't have anything to eat since her abrupt waking up at Sarah's landfill shelter. "Sorry," she apologised sheepishly, a pale blush appearing on her cheeks.

Sarah responded with an amused grin. "Heh, not gonna lie. I am a little peckish myself. Let's walk down the water line..." she pointed at the huge sturdy copper pipe, rustling with running water inside it. "...and set up camp."

"So, where are we?" Lara repeated her question to lighten up the mood and occupy their minds while walking.

Sarah inhaled the stale, damp air. "This is the Waste Refinery Plant Alpha. Everything the uptown flushes down a drain ends up here. I used to spend a lot of time around these parts. No one ever comes down here, so it's relatively safe."

"And the mutants? You've said it yourself the underground's infested with them." Lara pressed onto the topic. She could feel her stomach getting ready to produce yet another embarrassing sound. However, it then changed its mind and didn't do anything.

"The area's sealed away by mechanical locks and flood doors, and no one without a brain intact can come here. Don't ya worry about it...." Sarah was a little dismissive with the answer as she was most likely giving her attention to something else entirely. Her green eyes were scanning the area with a great portion of curiosity.