Chapter 2

" Woah. " The wings came from out from under the vehicle like it was nothing. " You Good?" Rakel still sitting in the driver's seat as he wondered how did her father get something like this. " How?" He asked before getting in the passenger seat wondering if he was still back at the dorm room sleeping passed out missing a test like usual. When she turned the ignition key again that's when he heard the roar from the engine and felt like this was going to be a bad idea. Everything from playing Tomb Raider and watching their plane be hit down or worse made him very aware before she gassed the pedal before they were speeding down the strip way and into the air. " Oh God, Oh God. Are we in the sky or are we dying?" Austin had his eyes shut tightly as he felt Rakel's hand on his arm he held onto the door and his legs firmly on the ground as he slowly opened his eyes to feel slightly embarrassed. How?" He asked again as he felt the stare from her as he turned his body towards her. " Don't ask again!" She held up her hand as they both looked out at the view he wondered if it was that hard of a question for her. Rakel remembered every single day that her father had this vehicle her mother wasn't proud, she was heartbroken. Her father loved only one thing after his work and it was her but never did he give her mother appreciation for the birth; if anything he was always working on something until Rakel wanted to help. She loved her father until she tried to talk him into breaks even though it was more of quitting, he wasn't having it. "Rakel?"

"You okay?" She looked back at him from the very beautiful sky around them, she swallowed hard. " Yeah. I'm fine. " Austin wasn't as sure before thinking something definitely wasn't right. " Your father when he tried to find the code for the secret tomb. Where did he go? " It wasn't making sense to him and he didn't want her to die just like her father did and have her stupidity get the best of her. As a friend he was worried and he wanted so badly to tell her to turn back now, but he felt like she'd be stubborn. What was the point of this if they couldn't make it? He breathed trying to figure this out himself. Why wasn't she telling him what happened or what he was doing in general? Was there something else that her father was doing that made her this way? Did he shut her out too? He knew about her mother and father and their divorce before the accident happened. Harper made sure to tell him about most of the things in her life, even though Harper barely knew Rakel and it made him question who he was going with, a friend or someone he didn't need to know.

"Where're the Blue mountains ?" Austin already knew he just wanted to change the atmosphere. " In Australia. I'm just not sure how we're going to land this when there might not be many roads. He snapped his head towards her. " What?" He didn't want to crash if anything he was too young for this and that said a lot he never traveled, this was the most he has been out, even though he was in a car flying in the air. He suddenly felt sick to his stomach at the thought as he looked down from where they were. " I think I'm going to be sick?" Austin breathed holding his stomach before Rakel pushed him back into the seat. " Breathe. Lay your head back and close your eyes. You'll be fine. " Rakel was going to have a fit if he got sick in her dad's car. " We're almost there." She figured they'd be the first ones there considering they had a flying car but when she landed the flying car and parked into the trees that hid the car perfectly she was dead wrong. " Crap. Not them again. " Austin stared across out at the canyon as he looked down into the massive hole towards the ground below. " Have I told you about my fear of heights? " I'm not doing that he thought as he tried to breathe again only this time they were hunched behind the wall of the canyon. " How the hell are we supposed to get around them and not be seen or heard? " He felt stupid for asking as he knew he could fight but that was only because his mother thought it was necessary for him to not get mugged or worse. He was however thanking her mentally in his head as he watched several of the men walk around while one answered the message from the other line from the walky-talky. " They still have those?" He chuckled before kind of walking hunching over to make sure they couldn't see him. " Austin. " He heard her whisper as she used hand signals. She was going to take the right and he was going toward the left. In his mind, he mentally yelled at himself ' Don't screw this up.' ' ' Everything in his mind was saying this was going to be hard. It was pretty easy so far at least. Rakel fought with one after she choked another. She watched Austin as he seemed to enjoy himself a little too much. Austin did however didn't like how the bigger one came at him as he wondered if this was the end of his life. He crouched before throwing himself in between his legs and then kicked the next guy from off the ledge. The guy yelled before the big one came after him and grabbed him way too easily for his liking. " Ah. Dude. " The giant liked the fact that Austin was trying to get out of his hold but what he didn't see was Rakel before she kicked him from behind. Dropping Austin he twisted kicking him in his face as the giant slammed hard against the rock. " Oh, I heard that. That hurt. I heard his head or I think it was his head." Rakel looked at him as a bruise was forming on the side of her face. " You have a bruise. " He reached out for her to only move away. " I know. I feel it. Is it bad?" He looked back at the bruise after shaking his head at her as they heard more voices getting closer. " Rakel, get down." He was behind a large rock but she couldn't fit behind it with him. Her mind raced in fear before she dived right in time into a hallow-looking cave area, it was definitely a dead end. She didn't have to know as she saw another gun to her liking. She made sure she had bullets before she heard them crying for backup. Some of their backs were turned as she didn't aim.

she fired not realizing the trouble they were in before running out of bullets to fast for her liking and although she tried to make a run for it towards Drew, he ran ahead of her. They weren't ready yet as she saw several men tackling Austin before the rocks behind them gave way blocking their only exit. A few grabbed ahold of her dragging her towards the edge of the cliff as she didn't like where it was going. Rakel screamed as she watched before trying to kick out only for someone in full armor to grab her and hold her down. " let go of me!" She heard Austin yelling as he punched and kicked getting out of the guy's hold before he grabbed the bomb and barley threw it behind him as he ran towards her as she felt the chain around her feet as the person got up from off her as screamed. " Austin!" She tried to hold on to the edge but she couldn't really hold on as the chain and the weight was hurting her. " I'm coming hold on." She cried thinking this was the life of a Jones, death. She didn't hold on long as one of the bad guys kicked at her head before she yelled as her fingers scratched at the stone she tried to grab onto after falling onto another. " Austin!" She heard him as he came into view but it was too late she couldn't hold on any longer as she fell into the deep water below her as watched him in a dive headed towards her. She felt the water cave in as she tried to hold her breath as long as she could but every moment leading up to her death that she was too close. She tried to bring up her feet but her energy had left her when she hit the water as she never really saw Austin come into view. He was worried she knew he was but he grabbed her around the waist grabbing her face to steady her before giving her more oxygen as his lips found hers. It helped but she still couldn't move much before black dots came into view as she saw Austin's body come back into view only this time he lifted the weight of the chain before grabbing her around the waist as he noticed she wasn't holding her breath like she was before. He wasn't just worried but scared as he needed the oxygen only he held on as he tried to throw the chain as it went into the shallow end before grabbing her again only this time hauling her body as he came up from the water. He didn't have to lay her body on the ground for him to make sure he could give her CPR. Everything about this and the fact that they didn't do this to him wasn't right. Why do this to only her? He pushed harder each time against her chest before she started coughing up the water in her system. "I thought I lost you. You Scared me." He was telling the truth as he was mere centimeters from her face before he heard a yell and saw the bad guys climbing down from the ropes. " Can you walk or run?" He wasn't just asking and she knew that however helping her up he steadied her before holding onto her as they fast walked towards the unknown away from them. She only thought about what had happened before it rushed back to her as they suddenly ran as they were running after them. " This way." Austin wasn't just asking again it felt like he was suddenly in charge of this whole thing. " Slow down, hold on." Time was definitely not on their side as they kept running toward the unknown part of the expedition. When Austin knew they lost them he knew they both needed to get warm. She sat there thinking as he found the wood and easily made a fire before the sun could go down. " Do you want to tell me why it felt like they were trying to mainly kill you? I still don't understand what in the world is going on and it also feels like you're hiding something. What is it that you're hiding?" Her mind was going through way too much as she still wasn't sure why everything was always about her or her father. " They know who I am because of my father. They threatened to kill mom and when they did he didn't care. They tried to kill me in front of my father when they were trying to find the secret tomb hidden in the cave underneath the city of Ruins. She was crying and she knew it meanwhile Austin suddenly felt like he wanted to kill himself for even asking the way he did. " I didn't mean to cause a bad memory. I thought you were going to say something else. " He definitely didn't want to sleep first. " I'll take first watch. You get some sleep." Looking at her he knew she needed it but Rakel remembered the only thing that kept replaying in her mind was the painful memory of the cold barrel against her head as she begged her father. The warning they had gotten the day they killed her mother and then tried to do the same to her wasn't even what she was expecting. Her father knew it was going to happen at some point but not then. He didn't even know how they knew what he was working on or what he was trying to find. The only person who knew was mainly Rakel and his buddy Robby and he knew it wasn't Rakel who told. She had that nightmare again for the millionth time only it showed a lot more violence than before, then again she was only 11 when it had happened. She had 10 years to that and more knowledge of the whole thing. Everything wasn't exactly screaming Uncharted or Tomb Raider but Indiana Jones. This wasn't even a funny moment and yet it made her feel a whole lot better. She woke up that morning sun streaming through her eyes as she turned her body to Austin as he to was sleeping. " Austin?" He wasn't supposed to be and he knew that. Did something happen? Why was she worried for him? She wanted to laugh at the thought as she would have to tell someone that he died all the while someone was trying to kill her. She didn't even want to think about that as she shook him awake. " Hey, you okay?" She grabbed his face checking his neck for any possible dart or bullet. " What are you doing? I can't sleep in peace. " He had obviously heard what he said as he shot up. " I'm sorry. I fell asleep. " He looked at his surroundings before looking directly at Rakel as if he had done something terrible. " You can stop the staring, It's creepy." She didn't know whether to slap him or call him a name. She didn't do either. " Are you feeling better?" He asked looking her over her fingers were definitely all red as the bruise on her face was noticeable. The look on her face wasn't at all what he was expecting. She looked ready to pass out or worse fall dead. " We need to get a move on it. If they leave with the artifact I'm going to go nuts." He didn't want to see what that was so he grabbed her backpack. He didn't want to lead the way as he still tried to get everything through into his brain about her father and her. There was still something that bothered him and it wasn't just the part where it was her father that could be dead but he wasn't sure to believe her just yet. They had jumped across the bridge that was almost falling through as they hadn't seen not one villain or missile headed towards them. "Be alert, it's way too quiet. " She made sure Austin was still behind her before turning back around at the leaning tower in the view as the mountains in the background made it better before she didn't think before running inside with her gun to her shoulder. Stairs lead up to who knew whereas she looked at the small room before heading up as Austin pulled her backward. " Hey! The Hell." She saw the look on his face before he pointed at the staircase and right below it, even one move would've had them both killed. She didn't realize the mistake she made before looking more at it as ticking was suddenly heard. " Go! Run!" She yelled pushing him as they both dove back outside and back towards where they had come before everything blew up almost killing them as she dove further than she realized at Austin. He went over the ledge she didn't scream but she ran over grabbed his arm and pulled him up he fell on top of her as she turned her head to look at the not so much of tower. " Like this could get worse?" She punched him in his chest before he yelled. " Never say that. " He had gotten up helping her only this time they didn't know how to get across even though they could jump. In all her years she never played a game where they were so close to the ground as yet the characters seemed to still die from it for some reason. I'd say let's jump." She wasn't asking as she grabbed her gun from the ground and looked over the edge. " You do realize I was just hanging from that? I could've easily just done that myself and had that done with?" Was he really being sarcastic? " Go ahead then. Jump." He didn't like the look she had given him and it had him questioning who the heck this girl was.

He looked past her at the rope that hung from the tower, was that there before? " Why don't we just swing across?" He pointed yet again as she turned towards where the tower was half missing. " Where did that come from? Sure why not. I'd rather not jump anyways." He stared after her all the while wondering why the hell did everything seem so creepy all of the sudden. She ran getting a head start before jumping grabbing the rope as she swung back and forth only once and landed perfectly. He was impressed but he wasn't about to show off and then die. So far everything was quiet, a little too quiet for Austin's liking and even that explosion should've had men running around by now unless they really thought they were dead. If any game had taught him anything it was to still make sure they were. He didn't know how far they walked or where they were going but he hoped the bad guys weren't all going to gang up on them and do what they had done the last time. Thinking of that he still had a look of regret on her face as she also seemed hectic before she was submerged in the water. They climbed to the top as the view alone made him wish he could own a view just like it. " Beautiful." Rakel looked at him as she thought the same only she knew she'd seen better.

" There's going to be plenty of a view after we reach the top. " He ran after her only this time she seemed more aware of the canyons around them. " What exactly are we looking for?" He was very curious about what he was getting himself into, but he was suddenly interested in his life as it became more interesting. " A Scepter, but I could be mistaken." Mistaken? Everything about her was still driving him nuts and not like that either if only she'd open up. Does she not trust anyone, no wonder why Harper wasn't much of a friend, then again Austin didn't think she tried hard enough. He still beat himself up over the fact that he tried to get Rakel's attention but it didn't work. Harper was amazing at first but he definitely didn't see anything with her. Harper constantly talked about herself and what her other friends were doing in their lives complaining about what she could've been doing. If only Harper could see them both right now she would definitely have a fit. "How much further?" He never thought of himself as a complainer but then again he wasn't exactly in P.E anymore. " You're funny but annoying." She paused holding her arm out behind her as a warning before she grabbed her gun in her other hand. Pointing up there was two sets of legs. Austin groaned mentally wishing this would just send already. " You know how to fight right?" Thankfully they hadn't seen them as they seemed preoccupied with something else. " No. I'm not a black belt in karate and taekwondo. " Austin was getting tired of her sarcasm and attitude but then again he didn't get her at all.

Rakel and Austin waited patiently as they watched from the other side after climbing on the ledge to it. No one saw them and it gave them the advantage to sneak up on them and take what they had taken. " What do we do when we take it just hold on to it. " Rakel still didn't know how to tell him but eventually she knew she would have to. " It leads to treasure. " Austin wasn't sure he heard right. " Treasure? Real treasure? Where? " She watched the gates to the cave they had gone in as he looked at her. "There's a map in my folder that I've discovered into what seems to be code, but I already have that figured out. " He looked in between the boulder and the cave entrance before looking back at her as she looked at him. " Okay? So the real question is how do we surprise them and take the scepter?" Rakel already had that figured out as well as she pulled the dynamite from her pack showing him as she told him to do exactly as she said so it could work. " Okay so I'll get the Scepter and you throw the Dynamite as I run. Like that could change anything." Austin didn't know if he had faith in this plan as she still seemed to be thinking of something else. " Get the Boss he'd want to see it before we load it up." They heard everything as Austin waited till they were ahead of him before using a silencer on his gun to take out the men only he had a number of bullets but hopefully her plan would work. When he was right behind them he figured there was no way they'd get away with this before pushing one hard the other man lost his grip completely as he roundhouses kicked him before he could call for help or hurt him in any way. Grabbing the scepter he grabbed the oval-shaped small artifact as well. " Why not." Everything happened too smoothly for his liking but then again work smarter not harder. " Got it!" He yelled running back as he heard the voices from the other side of the wall get louder. " Nuggets, nuggets!" He ran jumping without thinking before she threw the lit Dynamite before he looked back as some of the men were coming too before they freaked out before it went off. " Rakel I don't think you thought this through!" Austin yelled before holding the items tighter and he felt the hairs on his neck stand up, she didn't just blow up their exit but they were in a bowl filled with the large rocks that fell from above them. Rakel wasn't that scared as she grabbed the remote to her vehicle calling it to her. She loved her dad's car and was very thankful it got there quicker than she thought. " You coming?" Rakel stared at Austin as he ran in a weird way into the vehicle breathing heavily at the almost closed space. " please get us out of here." Austin didn't like small spaces or death. He was still trying to process the entire thing only he still felt like he was dreaming only it seemed very emotional and dangerous. Austin laid the artifacts in the back seat laying his head back before she stepped on the gas. He felt like he would rather have her crazy driving than fighting the bad guys and jumping over things. If anything Austin took a meaningful peaceful nap not even related to what they were doing all the while Rakel flew into the air going towards the highest point across from where they were. Rakel only thought of how easy that was as she didn't want to question it to the point where she'd get paranoid.