Tomb Raider:  Aberration
by Roger Pederson

"No one knows what evil lurks in the darkness beyond.                                                                 And in the abscense of light, ..... darkness prevails."

She regained consciousness. Lara slowly got to her feet. "Where in God's name am I?", she asked herself.  "What happened?"  The last thing she remembered was walking out of the dark hall after obtaining the artifact. Then, ...... blackness. Reaching to feel a bruise on the back of her head, Lara grimaced as it was tender to the touch. Darkness surrounded her. She instinctively reached for a flare. Much to her surprise, ..... her flares, backpack, guns, .... everything was gone! A sense of foreboding overcame her. Suddenly, Lara felt something glide across her skin. Out of pure instinct, she quickly turned .... but it was pitch black. There was nothing to see! A stench permeated the air. Her heart raced. Knowing that she had to rely on her other senses at this point, Lara carefully felt around. Her hand touched a slimy surface behind her. It was cold and damp. Brick. Moss. She turned and moved her hands up the wall, as she began to settle down now. Then, suddenly, the hair on the back of her neck stood up as a chill ran through her. She whipped around to face whatever it was. She flailed at the darkness around her. Nothing! "Just your imagination", she thought to herself. 
She placed her outstretched arms behind her, feeling the wall once again. Moving very slowly, she shuffled to the right. She continued moving slowly, as her hands brushed lightly against the wall, guiding her along. Finally, she reached another wall. As she led herself with her hands, she also took note of any change under her feet. From a distance, Lara could hear a woman's scream as it echoed off the wall. Now, by the sound, she new that wherever she was .... the room was very large, even cavernous! 
She tried to get her bearings. Lara let her back rest against the wall. The texture of the wall had become too bold and patterned now. It had to be a ladder! It led only one way, ......up. She began her ascent, slowly. She estimated the rungs of the ladder that were built into the wall, were approximately two meters apart. By counting the number of times she grasped each succeeding rung with her hands, she could then conclude how far she had climbed. Question was, what lay ahead? As she continued her ascent, Lara heard another piercing scream echo off the walls. She had climbed almost twenty-six meters now. She reached up for the next rung , but instead, felt an edge! She looked up and could now see a very dim light. Lara climbed. The opening above was small, but she was able to slowly pull herself up. She crawled down the low, narrow passageway toward the light. She felt the walls becoming closer and closer together. "Good thing I'm not claustrophobic", is all she could think. She pressed on. The screams were becoming louder. She started wondering if she were doing the right thing. But there was no going back. 
Finally, Lara reached the end. The worst was over, she said to herself as she saw a flicker of light ahead. Her body, taut with fear, told her to be careful. She slowly moved forward in the darkened passage. She felt the ceiling incline sharply. Lara braced her hands and feet against the walls as she made her way up the narrow tunnel. The passage narrowed even more, as Lara got down on her hands and knees. She crouched down and continued forward as the passage became smaller and smaller. Forced to her stomach, with her arms stretched out in front of her, she had to practically squeeze her way along. Lara had to stop and take a breath, as the sides of the passage squeezed against her rib cage. She panicked, then told herself to calm down, but her body refused. She continued on, determined and knowing that this was the only way out.
Lara felt her ribs squeeze against the walls of the passage. She continued to breathe as best she could, even though it had become more shallow. Feeling as though she were about to scream. 'Was this it?', 'Is this how I'm going to die?', 'Buried alive?' she inched her way along. Lara thought she didn't have claustrophobia, .... but it had already begun to sink in. She started to panic. "SETTLE DOWN!' she told herself. She took long, deep breaths.  .......  'That's better.' she thought. 
She crawled until she finally came to the light up ahead. The screaming she had heard earlier had stopped. Lara pushed the top half of her body through the opening into a large chamber, her hips and legs keeping her from falling to the ground below. She now saw the source of the light. Below her, across the way, was a makeshift torch. Its flame danced around the cave, revealing a horrifying sight! All around were bodies, often decapitated with limbs missing, tied to poles stationed in the ground. She looked all around her and spotted some old chain along the wall to her right. Struggling, Lara reached to grab the chain, pulled herself out of the hole and began to ascend. She had seen that the chain ended about ten feet from the ground, and even though nothing but darkness could be seen above her Lara decided to try going up first. Unfortunately, there was nothing. The chain was attached to a plate in the cave wall, near the ceiling. Lara climbed back down the chain and, with some trepidation, dropped to the ground below. The air was musty and had the stench of decomposing flesh. She started looking around for anything that could be of use. That meant going over to and checking the bodies, or what was left of them, for any tools or weapons. 
Most of the "bodies" were nothing more than an upper torso that remained tied to the beam. Most of the beams appeared to be broken ..... or even bitten off, with some remains tied to what was left and now lay on the ground. Only one body looked to be fresh. Lara slowly approached it. The woman she saw tied to the post on the ground was missing one arm, along with the lower half of her body. A small pool of blood surrounded her torso, though much of it had seeped into the ground. Either that or something had removed it. The womans' lower spine and tailbone could be seen. Her legs had been ripped from her body! She couldn't have been dead for very long. Perhaps this was the poor woman Lara had heard screaming?! 
Whoever, ...... or whatever, did this may be back soon, Lara thought. God help me!  

TO BE CONTINUED

Lara Croft and Tomb Raider are trademarks 
or registered trademarks of Square Enix Ltd. All rights reserved.
This story may not be published, or re-created. 
Story by Roger Pederson