Masked

XVI.

Thanks to you all reading and voting, this story actually reached the first place in the #laracroft ranking! Keep 'em coming!

--

"Lara! Lara!"

The only things Jonah could hear were the brunettes cries, and something else – something, that was apparently not that happy and countered every call of help of Lara with a growl of its own.

Another jaguar.

It could've went so well. The two friends were on their way to Kuwaq Yaku, and they didn't encounter one single dangerous animal; well, not until now, literally about a kilometre away from the little town.

With all her strength, Lara tried to push away the deadly beast that was busy with massacring her back. The pain she experienced now was indescribable, and still, it got kind of numbed down because of the adrenaline that pumped through Lara's blood once again.

While the brunette was fighting for her life, Jonah tried to lift the heavy tree branch that was blocking the path to his friend.

"Come... on!"

He hadn't the strength to do so. Panicked, Jonah searched his own equipment for an object to help Lara, who still was wrestling in the mud with the furious jaguar on top of her. Luckily, Jonah made a find and pulled out the flare gun he had fired before.

"Lara!"

Without losing time, he threw the weapon through the little opening between branch and the ground.

"Use the flare gun!"

New will to fight and to win rushed through the brunette when she gave the beast a punch in the jaw, forcing it to back off her. Hurriedly, she reached for the red gun and fired it directly on the jaguar that had recovered from the seemingly weak attack and was now jumping straight towards the female. The shot struck it directly in its face.

"Shit, Lara!"

Jonah was still calling for her when she rose back up on her feet. Hastily, she grabbed her bow to attack the jaguar head on. From there, it was all the same. It didn't take the brunette as long as it has taken her with the first jaguar, and the beast was certainly not as strong as the other one she had encountered. After just a few arrows, the jaguar got slower, tumbled before it collapsed on the ground, lifeless.

Lara's breath was shaky when she bent forward, resting her hands on her knees. She was still on an adrenaline high, but as soon it ebbed away, she needed to tend her completely wounded and scratched back.

"Lara!"

That was Jonah's concerned voice. Slowly, as if she feared sudden movement would make the pain she experienced only worse, she straightened her back and made her way over to her friend. She helped him lifting the tree branch that was still blocking the path.

When Jonah was finally able to get on the other side, he examined his brunette friend. She seemed tired, but yet, there was a hint of darkness on her features, which lit up her eyes. It made her look cold when she paced back to the dead jaguar on the ground.

"Your back looks ba-"

The bulky man couldn't speak further when he saw that Lara had rammed her knife into the cadaver, seemingly careless. The brunette didn't answer either, she was concentrating on skinning the creature that had nearly taken her life this time. Jonah sighed.

"I'm going to go make camp."

With that, he left his friend to find wood for the fire and some edibles. Meanwhile Lara let out all of her anger on the dead body of the jaguar. To hell with the artefacts, the cataclysms, the apocalypse and these damn wild animals that complicated her quest even further! At this point in time, all that Lara wanted was to get back home – back to Isabelle.