The heavy trap door was slowly raised. Nervous eyes peered out between the trees. Nothing. With a lurch the door was then pushed open and Lara emerged, breathing heavily, she tried to calm herself.
“Seems ok. Call you in ten” she whispered through the crack in the ground as she slowly lowered the door back down. Kicking over some leaves and twigs, she re-camouflaged the secret entrance into their underground bunker.
She stayed low to the ground and squat-walked toward the nearest tree. Cool air washed over her, showering her with scent of nature, damp soil and the morning dew was fresh in the air. Lara had only been underground for three and a half days, but the vibrancy of the world shook her. Deep greens, chirping birds, sunlight creeping through the leaves of the trees that surrounded her. She was filled with joy, she felt free and excited for a world of adventure.
As dictated by Bob and rehearsed in her mind constantly overnight, she scouted the surrounding area to their hidden entrance. Making use of her compass, printed map and binoculars for distance. She heard and saw nothing to make her suspicious, checking her Garmin watch, she set a timer for nine minutes and set off due west towards the Spains Hall Estate.
The peace and nature was occasionally interrupted by the hum of more helicopters or fighter jets, thousands of meters above her. The world must truly be in a state of chaos she thought to herself, weirdly finding herself smiling. Lara followed the tree line that cut across the edges of the various farming fields that surrounded their campsite, eventually making it to Little London Hill road. Jolting across the road, she jumped into the adjacent field and scrambled towards the cover of trees once more as the sound of her Garmin alarm began to beep.
“Perfect timing” she chuckled. Once in cover, legs and jacket now covered in mud. She took out her radio, tuned it and called in. “Alpha Unit clear. Please Proceed Omega. Over”
“Ok I understood. Erm, over and out?” replied Wren on the receiving end of her broadcast.
A brief pause and then Wren chimed in again “I mean, erm. Roger Wilco, over”
Lara smiled before replying “This is Alpha-Unit, Out”. Bob must have told her off and to reply properly, she mused.
Spotting a tall tree amongst the grouping that she was currently hidden amongst, Lara got to work. With a run-up and a kick off the tree trunk she managed to clasp onto its lowest hanging branch. With ease she pulled herself up, wrapping her legs around the branch for support. Moving from branch to branch, slowly but efficiently, her boots scratched at the bark. Finding a sturdy place to sit and be still, she rested and then pulled out her binoculars. Adrenaline coursed through her veins, completely unsure of what she would find, or what she would even want to find.
Just over five hundred meters away, a small estate of large houses and outbuildings stretched outwards. This was all actually owned by one wealthy family. Most of her view was obscured by the families own private forest, but this was a safe space to take a first look. So far, so good. No movement detected and a relatively peaceful journey. Lara looked further west towards the road that wound its way towards her next destination in Little Stamford. The road was dotted with houses, again no movement. Had they all really been evacuated thought Lara? There was no way there would be enough temporary accommodation for all of these people, this quickly.
As she panned further west, her jaw dropped and she had to do a double-take. An area beyond where she was scouting today had been transformed. Or, for better words, totally replaced with a woodland from the other world. Tree’s that were almost as tall as the buildings of London burst from the ground, thousands of hues of greens graced her eyes; a vibrancy she had never before seen completely overshadowed her feelings of earthen nature just a mere forty minutes earlier.
Lara felt both numb and strangely alive all at once. This is what the constant hum in the air was for, maybe twenty or so miles away from their bunker lay the mightiest chunk of forest she had ever seen that stretched on for miles and miles. It must have been almost the size of London, if not bigger. Above the trees military helicopters and drones sung in the heavens, high resolution cameras trying to capture every detail. At the edge of the forest, Lara could faintly make out moving objects, the distance too far to make out clearly from her current position. It must have been where the troops had been redirected. This more than warranted a quick buzz back on her radio to base. Lara dialled it in and explained what she was seeing, taking some grainy, long-distance pictures on her phone to show the group on her return.
Did you know this story is from Royal Road? Read the official version for free and support the author.
More than thirty minutes passed before Lara was ready to move. No wolves, no goblins and no other danger nearby had been spotted, her confidence began to grow again. Time to continue with the mission, Lara made her way across the next series of fields toward the private woodland of Spains Hall, she heard the rumbling of two cars, some distance to her left, they didn’t sound heavy either, possibly normal cars! Her spine prickled; they could be civilian people, unless Elves knew how to drive. That specific road would lead to Spains Hall Estate, so she carried on with her objective regardless, perhaps she could find some answers.
Once Lara reached the private woodland of the estate, she took a minute to calm herself, slow and steady breath work calmed her heart rate and allowed her to focus on the task ahead. With care and caution, Lara wove between the trees, slowly making her way towards the woodland edge. There was a small dirt footpath that meandered through the area, Lara followed its line, but kept fifteen meters to the right. Eventually she found herself hidden out of sight behind a large Holly Bush that separated her and the estate. Peering slowly around the corner she saw a bright blue tennis court; this did not surprise her as many years prior she had looked at the estate via Google Maps satellite imagery.
“Ah yes - Rich people things”. Some time passed before Lara made her next move, keeping to the edge of the woodland, skirting North West beside the tennis court she made the decision to dart across a small open area to the next group of trees. This would give her the best view of the main residence and best chance of understanding if anybody was home, she could have played it safe and continued her path around to the farming area, but it would take too long. Glancing at her watch, Lara was caught by surprise that over two and a half hours had already passed.
“Shit. I’ve been dawdling” Lara told herself aloud.
“Alpha Unit. Taking longer than anticipated. Estimated return 15:00 hours. Over”
“This is Homebase commander. Understood over.”
“Alpha Unit. Out”
Homebase commander huh, that’s new Lara mused to herself. Bob was a funny character. If anything, Maureen was the commander and Bob her trusty Lieutenant.
Time to make my move she thought. Gritting her teeth and sprinting across the open land towards the next series of trees. She sat on the cold morning ground, her back pressed heavily into the tree trunk. Closing her eyes once more and listening intently, Lara’s ears picked up on distant explosions, something must be happening in the city. Then, all of a sudden, voices. A man and woman were having a relatively aggressive argument on the on the opposite side of the house. It was too distant to make out the words, but the tones were definitely agitated.
Keeping low, Lara moved towards the South West corner of the house. Keeping her head below the window line, she edged around the house until eventually finding herself towards the front to find there were a large number of cars parked across the driveway.
There can’t be this many people here, I saw no movement, nothing! Lara told herself in a panic. She counted fifteen cars across the various driveways between the buildings, there could theoretically be anywhere between fifteen and seventy five people here. ‘Theoretically’ she assured herself, taking a slow step backwards.
There were two large houses, each at least seven times bigger than her own detached cottage in Thaxted. The woman she could see at the edge of the driveway gave the man a hard shove, got into her car and slammed the door shut, crying children sat in the back seats of the car. In a rage, she reversed hastily and sped away, her tyres spitting gravel as she went.
“FUCK OFF THEN” the man shouted after the car. He was a large burly man that looked like a stereotypical gangster. Bald head, a little overweight with a strong beer belly. His arms were covered in faded tattoos, pink skin from a recent holiday and fat fingers donned thick gold rings. This was not the type of person that Lara hoped to meet today.
“Oi Oi” a snakey looking man shouted from across the driveway. Emerging from the second residence, there were ten men and two women. Each of them carrying some form of weapon and all of them looking brutal. They were completely out of place with their surroundings.
“Got the staff all locked up in the cellar chief. We should have just buried them mate.” He continued, shouting across the driveway. Fear now enveloped Lara. I’ve gotten too close. What the hell have I got myself into, she said to herself.
“But this man wouldn’t let us. So, out of respect. I said fine, but you give us the word boss and they’re gone” the man carried on whilst pointing to the scariest looking man Lara had ever seen. Light tanned skin, clean shaven head, wearing a plain black t-shirt, black jeans and trainers. His arms were also covered in tattoos, but expensive and intricately detailed. He had a furrowed brow and aggressive eyes and walked with an air of confidence that demonstrated he was not intimidated by his company or even the wider existential threats the world was currently facing. He glanced at the snakey little man, but said nothing.
“We will adhere to our good friend Mr. Vasquez’s wishes” the larger, bald man replied.
“But he wants to let them all go! Absolute madness” protested the man. Lara noticed his voice had cracked slightly and his confidence drained from his face once the man they had called Vasquez had even so much as looked at him.
“Let’s discuss it inside, c’mon” the large bald man said, brushing the disagreement under the carpet “it is too cold out here”.