An Hour in the Life of Lara Croft
By Littlesilverstar
Everyone's favourite heroine kicks ass and looks good doing it


AUTHOR'S NOTE: This is just a short story showcasing some skills that I wanted
to have Lara do. Obviously, I do not own the character of Lara Croft.

Enjoy!

* * *

"This is it, Miss Croft. The tunnel that leads to the inner sanctum of the
tomb."

"Thank you, Vincent. And like I said earlier, you can call me Lara." She
smiled at the local man she had hired as a guide, then shone her lantern into
the opening. The narrow passage continued straight for only about fifteen
yards before curving sharply to the right.

She looked at the other man next to her, her trusty assistant Wayne, and gave
him her trademark warm smile as well. "Well, shall we?"

Lara led the way into the passage, her high heels clicking on the ancient
stone floor. With her heels, her height was boosted to over six feet, taller
than either of her male companions following along behind her.

"Do you think the rumors are true?" Wayne asked. "About ancient warriors risen
from the dead to guard this tomb?"

"I don't know," said Vincent. "All I know is that dozens of explorers have
gone into this cave, but none of them have ever come out." Wayne gulped when
he heard that, but Lara seemed to have no reaction at all.

The passage twisted and turned for what seemed like miles. Finally, the
explorers came to a junction, the tunnel branching off into two smaller ones.

"Which way?" asked Wayne.

"Turn your lights off," said Lara, snapping off her lantern as she spoke.

The darkness was intense enough that it seemed to be seeping into their
clothes. But as they looked around, a faint orange glow was visible in the
direction of the small passage leading off towards the right.

"There's our answer," said Lara, turning her lantern back on and starting
towards the orange glow. Vincent and Wayne followed her, looking at each other
a little nervously.

As they followed the twisting tunnel downward, deeper into the bowels of the
mountain, the orange glow gradually became brighter and brighter. Soon they no
longer needed to use their lanterns. Flickering torches appeared at regular
intervals along the sides of the passage.

"How are these torches lit?" Wayne asked. "No one is supposed to have been in
here for thousands of years."

"Maybe the previous explorers who came in here lit them," said Vincent,
although he didn't sound convinced of his own words.

Lara stopped suddenly, holding up her leather-gloved right hand. The bracelet
she was wearing slid slightly down her slender wrist as she raised her arm.

"What is it, Lara?" Wayne asked.

"I heard something."

Vincent shook his head. "I didn't hear anything."

"Let's wait for a few seconds," said Lara.

They all heard it this time. It sounded like footsteps. But there was
something off about them, as if whatever was making them wasn't quite human.

"Maybe it's some of those previous lost adventurers..." said Wayne nervously.

"Should we call out to them and see if they need..." Vincent began.

Lara shook her head as the footsteps came closer. "No. Keep quiet and draw
your weapons." Both men gulped in fear at that, but nodded and drew the
pistols they had been carrying in holsters. Meanwhile, Lara took out her
favourite homemade bow and inserted an arrow. She had a rifle slung over her
shoulder and a sword sheathed at her hip.

The creature finally emerged into the torchlight. It wasn't human. At least,
it hadn't been for thousands of years. It was a skeleton. And it was walking.
It held an ancient sword, somehow looking wickedly sharp even after thousands
of years, in its bony right hand. And it seemed to be grinning.

Lara fired. As the arrow impacted the skeleton's neck, the explosive that she
had thoughtfully attached to the arrow went off, blowing the creature into
thousands of tiny fragments of bone.

There came the sound of more footsteps. Lots more. Lara quickly readied
another explosive-tipped arrow. "Hold your fire, guys!" When the group of
skeletons appeared in the light, she loosed her arrow, this time blowing
several of them to bits. More skeletons kept coming. She kept up a steady
fire, annihilating seven or eight of the bony creatures with each arrow,
outwardly calm but growing more nervous inside as her supply of explosives and
arrows dwindled.

"Guys?" said Wayne in a small voice. "I think we have a big problem." He
pointed. From the other direction, the way the explorers had come in, more
skeletons had appeared, marching towards them. He fired his pistol at the
nearest creature. The bullet snapped off one of its ribs, but it kept coming
as if nothing had happened.

Vincent took aim at the skeleton's head and fired. A neat 9mm hole appeared in
the creature's skull, but it continued to advance. "Oh, fuck! How are we going
to..."

The skeleton, along with several others behind it, exploded into bits as
Lara's explosive arrow did its work.

"Shit. We're trapped," said Wayne, eyes darting from side to side at the
hordes of skeletons advancing from both directions. He and Vincent were both
on the verge of panic. Lara, though her expression didn't show it, felt real
fear flow through her body, something that didn't happen often. She looked in
her quiver. Two arrows and one explosive charge left.

Her eyes narrowed with decision. Attaching her last explosive to one of the
arrows, she took aim in the direction that led deeper into the mountain and
fired, the arrow angled upward. It struck the ceiling of the passage and went
off, causing a massive cave-in that crushed dozens of skeletons to dust and
blocked off the tunnel in that direction.

"Half the problem solved," she said in the calmest voice she could muster.
"Now back to business." She turned to the other direction and took careful aim
as she fired her last arrow. It impacted the nearest skeleton in the kneecap.

Lara, having constructed her bow for her own personal use, had designed it to
have a powerful draw, knowing that it would not be a hindrance thanks to her
impressive physical strength. The arrow drove into the skeleton's kneecap with
devastating force, shattering it and sending the creature to the ground,
unable to move.

Lara then readied her rifle, her favourite out of her collection. It was an
M-14, far more powerful than the M-16 and far more accurate than the AK-47.
She fired a single shot at the nearest skeleton's head. The powerful bullet
shattered its skull into bits. The headless skeleton stood ramrod straight for
a second, then collapsed to the cold stone floor. She continued firing,
sometimes decapitating individual skeletons with single shots, other times
mowing a few that were close together down at a time with four or five-round
bursts.

Meanwhile, Wayne and Vincent had managed to finish off a skeleton by both
shooting it repeatedly in the head with their pistols. Its skull, struck by
over a dozen rounds, finally shattered and the creature collapsed to the
ground. The two men were high-fiving each other, enjoying the adrenaline rush
from finally making a successful kill, when they heard Lara clear her throat.
She was reloading her rifle, and a large pile of dead skeletons was in front
of her. The guys quickly became quiet.

She smiled. "It's okay. You're not trained for combat in the way I am. I don't
blame you for wanting to celebrate. But we still have a job to do." She
pointed to more skeletons advancing on them. Slapping in the new magazine, she
began firing again with deadly accuracy. Vincent and Wayne began shooting
again as well.

One of Lara's bullets struck a skeleton in the spine, shattering it and
breaking the creature into two halves, which fell to the ground separately.
The top half was trying to crawl. Lara performed a front tuck somersault,
landing her entire 130-pound weight on it and crushing its skull underneath
her high-heeled boots. She then went over to the skeleton she had kneecapped
with an arrow and finished it by simply kicking its head off like a soccer
ball.

Lara emptied the remaining bullets in her rifle in a long burst, mowing down
several more skeletons. She then drew her sword, decapitating the nearest
creature as it charged her. She went to work, slicing and dicing skeletons
into bits, easily parrying the clumsy swings they made at her with their own
swords, taking advantage of her years of swordswomanship training. Wayne and
Vincent stopped shooting and simply watched her as she performed her dance of
death. After chopping dozens of the creatures into pieces, she finally paused
for a breather. Seeing a skeleton approach her, she didn't bother using her
sword. Instead, she simply backflip kicked its head off.

Only four skeletons were left. With a shrill scream, Lara tumbled towards them
with a roundoff going into a series of back handsprings, elegantly
backflipping like a pro-gymnast. She ended her tumbling run with an
effortless-looking salto, somersaulting through the air and landing on the
nearest skeleton's bony shoulders. Without hesitation, she twisted her
powerful hips, spinning herself around 360 degrees and snapping the creature's
neck with a sickening CRACK. Kicking its remnants away, she leapt high into
the air, holding her sword in both hands. She brought the blade down onto the
top of the next skeleton's head, cleaving it in half vertically from skull to
crotch.

Lara swept out with her long leg, tripping the last two enemies to the ground.
She then raised her leg into a full vertical split and brought it down onto
one creature's skull with blinding speed and tremendous force, completely
annihilating the skull into hundreds of tiny fragments.

The last skeleton was trying to get up. Lara raised her right leg with its big
black size 9 boot and stomped down hard on its skull, mashing it completely
flat. She ground down with her stiletto high heel, feeling bone crumble
underneath it. Finally removing her long black leather knee-high boot from the
remnants of the skull, she looked around at the scene. Dead skeletons and
pieces of bone were everywhere.

"Holy shit, Lara," said Wayne. "You're a goddess."

She laughed. "Thanks, honey, but I'm not a goddess. I'm just good at
fighting."

"You're way more than good," said Vincent.

"Well, you guys helped."

"A little." During the battle, Vincent and Wayne had managed to take out three
more skeletons using concentrated shots to their skulls.

Vincent looked at the massive cave-in. "Looks like we're going to have to find
another way into the..." He suddenly paused and whirled around when another
noise came from the opposite direction. More inhuman footsteps. But this time,
they sounded heavier. Much heavier. As they drew closer, the entire cavern
seemed to tremble with each step. Vincent and Wayne swallowed hard, and even
Lara looked a little nervous as she swiftly reloaded her rifle.

A single skeleton appeared from the tunnel. But while the other skeletons had
been the size of normal humans, this one had to be at least twelve feet tall.
It held a huge, thick spear with a razor-sharp point in its right hand, and a
large, round metal shield in its left. A massive sword was sheathed on its
bony hip.

"Holy fuck," muttered Vincent.

"We're in deep shit," Wayne moaned.

Lara felt her heart racing. This almost never happened to her. She took a deep
breath.

The giant skeleton suddenly hurled its spear. Lara shoved Wayne and Vincent
out of the way just in time. The spear passed through the space the men's
torsos had been occupying a split second earlier. It embedded itself in the
stone wall behind them with such force that it was driven over three feet into
the solid rock.

The skeleton drew its oversized sword and charged. Lara opened fire, but the
creature, with unearthly speed, raised its shield, covering its skull and
torso, the bullets bouncing harmlessly off the thick metal shield. She lowered
her aim, seeing rounds impact the monster's leg bones. A couple of bullets
struck its kneecaps, slowing it down slightly, but it kept coming, its bones
far stronger than those of any mortal human. Then, with the creature almost
upon her, her weapon clicked empty.

Lara tossed her rifle aside, did a pair of standing back handsprings to give
herself some distance, and drew her sword. Though her face remained
expressionless, even a woman as calm, composed, and skilled as her couldn't
avoid feeling the icy dread creep through her. She used her training and speed
to keep up with the monster, parrying or dodging its swings and watching as it
blocked each of her own attacks with its blade or shield.

"Fuck," said Wayne. "We've got to do something!" He began raising his pistol.

Vincent pushed his arm down. "If that thing can absorb rifle bullets like
that, what chance do handgun rounds have? Anyway, with them fighting that
close to one another all we'd probably do is hit Lara if we started shooting.
We have to wait for an opportunity."

Suddenly, the skeleton bashed Lara in the face with its shield, sending her
flying backwards. Though she managed to turn the impact into a graceful
standing layout backflip and land on her feet, she was dizzy and wobbling.

"AAAAAHHHHHHHHH!" Wayne and Vincent opened fire on the skeleton, the 9mm
pistol rounds bouncing harmlessly off its massive bones, but succeeding in
angering it. It began charging the two men. They turned and began running as
fast as they could, but the giant skeleton with its long strides was far
quicker.

Lara, her head still spinning, saw her rifle on the ground nearby. Trying to
gather all her concentration, she picked it up, quickly and expertly reloaded
it, and emptied the entire 20-round magazine in a single long burst into the
skeleton's vulnerable backside, screaming from the adrenaline rush and the
almost sexual feeling she got from firing the powerful weapon. Despite the
heavy recoil, she was able to keep control of the weapon and keep it on target
thanks to her physical strength and years of training. She felt a sense of
satisfaction as she saw small bits and pieces of bone drop off from the
monster's ribs and spine.

The creature stopped and began turning towards her again, but she was already
moving. Her boot impacted its neck as she leapt high and unleashed a flying
kick. The force would have instantly killed a normal human, but for the giant
skeleton it simply knocked it back a few inches.

Again Lara leapt, this time gripping her sword with both hands. She brought it
down with all her strength onto her opponent's right shoulder. Her blade
cleaved through the bone, separating the skeleton's right arm from the rest of
it. The arm and the sword it was holding clattered to the stone floor.

The skeleton felt no pain, only anger, and flung its shield at her. She dodged
with a sideways aerial cartwheel, then charged the monster as it was reaching
down to grab its sword with its other hand. She swung, her blade impacting the
skeleton's wrist. There was a CRACK as the bone broke, but only partway
through. She yanked the sword out and swung again, her expert aim allowing her
to strike the same spot, this time slicing through the thick forearm bone. She
let out a primal scream as she looked up at the monster, now with just part of
one arm and no hands. "Whatcha gonna do now, big boy?"

The skeleton kicked her in the face and Lara went down with an "oomph." She
sat up, groaning. "That'll work," she admitted.

The creature advanced on her, but she suddenly swept out with her long leg,
tripping it to the ground. Leaping up, she began stomping on one of its
kneecaps with her razor-sharp stiletto high heel, while repeatedly stabbing
her sword into the other knee. When both had been shattered, she left her
sword in the remnants of the knee, dashed over to the huge shield, picked it
up with both hands, grunting and struggling with its enormous weight, and with
an animal-like roar brought it down onto the giant skeleton's skull, crushing
it. She let the shield clatter to the ground and stood there, breathing
heavily.

"Damn, Lara," said Wayne. "You okay?"

She stood up straight, sheathing her sword and picking up and reloading her
rifle. "Never better," she grunted, feeling her head. Bruised and sore, but
nothing seemed to be broken.

"You took a couple of hard hits to the head," said Vincent. "Maybe we
should..."

"I'm all right," said Lara. "I'm very thick-skulled," she added with a smile.

"You can say that again," said Wayne. She giggled.

"Thanks for the assist, guys," Lara said, turning serious. "Distracting that
big boy gave me the chance I needed."

"You're welcome," Vincent replied, while Wayne blushed. Seeing Lara looking at
him, Wayne cleared his throat and walked over to the massive shield, tugging
at it.

"How much does this thing weigh? I can't even move it!"

"Don't know, but I could barely lift it," said Lara. She looked around. "Let's
get out of here before more monsters show up. I think we've all had enough
excitement for one day. Tomorrow we can start looking for another way into the
tomb."

"Now that's what I like to hear," declared Wayne.

"I'm looking forward to a cold beer when we get back to camp," Vincent added.
"Or several."

"Stay close to me, guys," Lara warned. "A lot of creatures came from this
direction."

The three of them started on their long journey towards the exit, tired and on
guard, but content.

THE END...for now

If you liked this story, please drop me a line at silverstar222b@yahoo.com