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Chapters 1 – 39 Archive

Bryce was angry — he could admit that to himself — and perhaps he was acting a bit rashly. Lately there was no course of action that kept him out of danger, though, so he felt he might as well go for the slightly more dangerous yet satisfying route in hunting down Lara.

Bullets whizzed by Bryce’s ear. Lara wasn’t alone, and her associate was firing at Bryce wildly while running. Bryce fired back a bit more accurately and slightly less panickedly, and then it was just him and Lara. He realized his gun had gone empty, but he didn’t want to kill Lara anyway — not immediately.

As he caught up on Lara, she tried to swing her gun around towards Bryce, but he blocked it and slammed his fist into her face while stripping the gun away from her.

She touched the blood on her lip and looked at Bryce and smiled. “Well, Edmund, I guess–”

Bryce interrupted her with another right hook to her face and then grabbed her by her neck and slammed her against the wall.

Lara’s smile was gone. “Aren’t you the tough guy.”

“I’m getting a little tired of that ‘I know so much and you don’t expression.'” Bryce placed the gun to Lara’s forehead. “You’ve been playing me since I first met you, and I want to know why!”

“You think I know everything? I just have my instructions and I follow them. As I understand it, you had an ally helping you three get in here who would know a lot more than me. The Devil usually knows all the details.”

“He does probably no more than he’s telling and is playing us to…” Bryce elbowed her in the face. “…but you’re the only one who knows anything that I’m able to smack around.” He put the gun back to her head. “Why Doug? You all think this is some joke putting him through this?”

Despite the threats and the now bloody face, Lara still didn’t look very scared. “My understanding is there’s not a damn thing special about him. The powers that be just needed someone to get the ball rolling.”

“What does that mean?”

“I don’t know all the details, but I know in the end it’s just a power struggle. Nothing more interesting than that. The reason Elza gets our loyalty is she offers us a piece of it.”

Bryce let go of her neck and grabbed the pouch containing the cube from her. “And what’s this about?”

“That, my friend, is the rock God made that he cannot lift. And right now that’s what we’re all hiding under.”

He pressed the gun harder against her head. “I don’t need the metaphysical crap.”

“Best I can give you.” She smiled. “We’re the ‘Last Children’; we need to stick together and help each other out.”

“I’m done with you.” Bryce backed off a step, and now firmed up the gun with both hands as he pointed at Lara’s face. “Goodbye, bitch.”

“You’re not going to kill me.”

“Why not?”

Lara smiled. “You’re just not.”

That only enraged Bryce further, but as he began to pull the trigger, Lara was on him, punching him in the face while grabbing the gun. He fell to the ground, and Lara was on top of him, hitting him repeatedly in the face with the gun. Dizzy and with blood getting in his eyes, he watched as Lara got up.

“That was fun; we should tussle again sometime.” She walked away. “Have fun with Loch.”

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