Tomb Raider:  Aberration 
Part 2
by Roger Pederson

"For in the abscense of light, ...... darkness prevails."

Strapped around the upper torso of the dead woman's body were five small flares. Lara bent down and unhooked them. She looked over, about seven feet away, and saw something else that might come in handy. Walking over, she picked up a belt. On it, she found some green "glow sticks" and a sling with a small knife were attached. She continued to scavange around. 
Sadly, she thought, her sense of smell had become somewhat accustomed to the stench of decaying corpses around her. Lara moved around slowly and quietly, hoping not to attract anyone ...... or any THING. She had thought about grabbing the torch off the wall and using it to light her way as she moved around the cave, but she knew that might draw attention to her prescence there. 
Suddenly, she heard movement. Her pulse quickened. Lara quietly dropped to the ground against the wall of the cave, far from the torch. She saw a small, flickering light approach. Three men approached. Two carried a large pole, the other some sort of tool and a pail. They started working. Then Lara realized, ..... it was a post hole digger! After digging the hole, inserting the pole and filling in the dirt around it, they poured a pail of water over the soil to compact it. When they were finished, they turned and left. 'What the hell is this place?', Lara asked herself. 'What in God's name is going on here?'  Lara knew she had to get out of there. Odds are they would be coming back soon. After all, they must have put that post there for someone! 'Not me," she thought to herself. 
She continued searching around the cave. Lara finally reconciled herself with the fact that there was no other way out except through the passage that she had seen those men enter and leave! As quietly as possible, with her back against the cave wall, she made her way toward the opening. She peeked around the corner, down the passage. It was dimly lit, but she knew she didn't dare light one of the flares or even use a glow stick since either one might attract attention ..... and that's the last thing she wanted! Out of the first cavern, Lara continued quietly down a long, winding corridor in a desparate attempt to escape this hell hole. As she slowly made her way along the dimly lit tunnel, a light grew brighter from the right side of the passage. She heard voices. "Shit", she said to herself and tried to hide herself as much as possible, bracing her back against the wall in a darker part of the tunnel behind a beam since the tone of their voices told Lara it wasn't good. 
"She's gone!!", one of the men yelled. 'Damn', Lara thought ....... 'what if they're talking about ME?!' Lara pushed herself against the wall even more, as she heard the sound of frantic footsteps.  They were in the corridor now. Lara listened as the sounds of the footsteps decreased in volume. They were headed in the other direction. 'Thank God', Lara thought! She glnced around the beam and down the tunnel. They were gone. She knew she better move fast, they'd be back! She looked inside the small 'room' that the men had emerged from. There was a small crate with three chairs around it and some cards on the make-shift table. She spotted an opening in the far corner. 'Another passage?', she asked herself. Oh well, she knew she couldn't go back the way she came and following those three down the tunnel in the other direction was out of the question. 
Lara quickly ran across the room to the opening and made her way through the dark, narrow passage. After many twists and turns, she saw some light up ahead. Lara stepped out of the passage and into a huge cavern! She carefully stepped away from the opening and cracked one of the glow sticks she had found. Lara tossed it out in front of her. It disappeared as it dropped. She lit a flare and walked to the edge. What she saw took her breath away. The cave was enormous and the pit below her had to be at least forty feet deep and roughly 80 feet in diameter. Lighted by the glow stick she had inadvertently tossed down there, she could see a large cage in the middle of the pit. What she saw in the cage was unlike anything she had ever seen before. The creature appeared to be a lizard, .....0 a giant monitor lizard. It must have been at least fifteen or sixteen feet in length. But that's impossible. The Komodo dragon usually doesn't grow to be more than ten feet. 'The Komodo is found in the Indonesian islands', she thought. 'I must be somewhere near there.'  After what she had seen in the cave earlier and what she saw here, ....... her imagination now perpetuated the very worst fate a person could possibly think of. 
The glow stick started to fade out as Lara was about to light another and toss it down there, but she heard voices and saw a flicker of light coming from an opening down in the pit. She quickly put out her flare and kneeled down. She saw the three men enter the pit area, carrying torches. They approached the cage, but kept their distance as they opened a large canvas bag that they had dragged into the area with them. A sickening feeling came over Lara as she realized that they were tossing body parts into the cage to feed the creature. 'Who the hell ARE these people ...... and what is this place?', she asked herself. After tossing the creature everthing they had in the bag, one of the men said "Let's go. We have to find her. Check the chamber." They turned and walked quickly back out of the pit where they had entered. The 'chamber', Lara thought. "I wonder if they're referring to the cave I'd been in, with all the dead bodies? ...... I have to get out of here!"  
After they were gone, Lara cracked another glow stick and explored her surroundings, .... making her way to the other side of the cave where she found another opening. She wound her way through a seemingly endless maze of dark corridors and small caves until she reached a central chamber. 
Lara looked up and saw sunlight! It was at least a hundred foot climb, but by the looks of the walls it could be done. And she had the strongest motivation of all. Survival! Once at the top, she couldn't help but look back and think ..... "What the hell was that ungodly aberration and who were those crazies?"

THE  END

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