Fading echoes: the outside world

Chapter 1

10 years later....

Lara heard the doorbell ring as she yawned and got off her couch. She walked towards her door as she opened it slowly. Jolann stood in front of it.

"Afternoon Lara." He said cheerfully as he walked in. She closed the door behind him and she sat down in a seat at her desk.

"Did you go to work today?" He asked as she shook her head.

"Nope." She said as she looked at some papers.

"What?!" He asked in shock. "Lara you know that's going to go out your paycheck! Why aren't you going!?" She sighed as she looked at him.

"It isn't fair." She said with a shrug as turned around in her chair. Jolann stood up and turned her around to face him.

"Lara you get paid once a month! How is that not fair!?" He snapped as she looked at him in anger.

"Ten dollars a month isn't enough! We can't feed ourselves these days because of that stupid wall and because of the stupid autocratic government!" She replied as he looked at her calmly.

"Lara you know how hard it is getting raw material these days. Especially when a man each day is getting killed by a person in the fading echoes!" He screamed as she looked at him. The fading echoes were a large rebellion that was in war with the government, or the 'Capital' is what people, including Lara would say these days.

"I don't get why we can't just go over the wall ourselves!" She snapped back as Jolann gasped.

"Lara that's illegal!" He said in a small whisper as she looked at him. "We can't go out the dorm. And especially can't go out our district!" He said as she shook her head.

"Whats so bad about the world out there!? I mean I've been saving every penny, every cent from dimes to nickels, and I'm even lucky to get a freakin quarter!" She screamed at him.

"Lara...." Jolann started but she interrupted him.

"No Jolann! I've been saving every coupon I could find, every credit and I've even buyed things from the black market!" She snapped as Jolann gasped.

"Lara you can't do that!" He screamed as lara banged her fists on the desk and shot up.

"YOU DONT THINK I KNOW THATJOLANN!?" She screamed as she stared harshly at him. He kept her gaze calmly.

"And im not saying you're not lara." He said as he sighed. "Just be careful about what you do." Before she could even respond, a young woman with auburn hair came running in and slammed the door behind her as she closed the blinds quickly and looked though them. She was sweating l as Lara looked at her.

"What the heck Marianne, what's wrong?!" Lara asked quickly as Marianne sat down.

"Ah was caught by the freaking Black police." She said quickly. Marianne was a young woman in her now late thirties. She usually wore green, yellow, black, red, or teal clothes, but this time she had on orange. She had silky auburn colored hair with white highlights in the front and had ghostly pale skin with green eyes. But no matter what halpened, Marianne always wore black biking gloves. She also came from a different district, District 2.

"What do you mean 'The Black Police'!?" Jolann said. "Rogue what did you do!" He asked. He'd usually call the country cajun rogue because of how she looked and how she was a dangerous and a dare devil.

"Ah did nothing! Ah climbed over the wall though." She said as Jolann huffed.

"I'm friends with trouble makers." He mumbled. Marianne rolled her eyes as she looked though the blinds again.

"Crap. Ah'm never getting back to district 2." She sighed as she groaned in annoyance.

"I'll help you home, come on." Jolann mumbled as he grabbed Marianne's arm.

"Lara, shugah are you gonna be ok?" Marianne asked as she noticed tHe expression Lara had. The young woman nodded as she slowly opened the door. Jolann hurried Marianne into his truck as he started it. "Bye!" Marianne waved as she closed the door. Lara soon did the same.

"Bye Lara croft!" She heard Jolann scream as she rolled her eyes.

"Lara Smith. It's Lara Smith." She mumbled as she sat down and looked at a broken watch on her desk. She picked it up as she stared at it. She clutched her head as memories flashed in her mind. She dropped the watch as she rocked back and forth in pain. Things became blurry as she heard sounds of pain and terror.

Bang!

Screams.

The sound of her nease.......dying. in her arms.

People giving medical attention on her arm.

A mark on her arm showing up as she went though surgery.

Then nothing.

She stopped rocking back and forth as she looked around. Pulling down her sleeve she stared at the mark on her arm. A strange eye like mark covered her wrist as she sighed.

'What does this mean?' She groaned as she laid down on the couch and stared at the ceiling.

She looked at a small box that was on top of her table. 'But that wasn't there before......' she slowly got off her couch and grabbed it. It was covered in wrapping paper as she shook it. 'It had something inside.' She looked at the tag on the side and gasped as it read, 'from your bestie Marianne and from the party pooper, Jolann' She laughed as she easily recognized Marianne's handwriting.

"That sly chick." She mumbled, her british voice cracking. She opened it to see a MP3 player. She gasped as she took it out. "No way." Earplugs were also inside wrapped up. She took them out and unwrapped them as she plugged them into the MP3. Putting the two ends into her ears, Lara cut it on. She saw a list of different kinds of music as she smiled.

"She always knew my favorite songs." She mumbled as she scrolled down though the playlist. She clicked on a song that had the words, 'Part of me' as it started to play. She smiled as she sat back down on the couch.

'I might as well enjoy it.......'

But what she didn't know was that her life was going to change.......for better or for worse.

Outside near the wall, a young girl sneaked behind a guard who was standing guard. Taking out a handkerchief, she grabbed him by the neck and covered it over his mouth and nose. He struggled to get her off him as she got on his shoulders and put more pressure on his mouth and nose. The guard collapsed as she smiled. "Thank you." She said quietly as she took his rifle and handgun off his vest. She loaded the rifle as she saw a army RV coming her way as she gasped. Taking his helmet, med pack, and pack of bullets, the young girl climbed the brick wall and jumped down on the other side. "Hey stop!" A man screamed as she gasped. He aimed the gun at her as she heard a 'click' Seeing it as her opportunity, she fired the gun twice as he collapsed. She heard sounds on the other side as she gasped. Lucky for her it was night time, so she grabbed a shotgun and quickly grabbed her backpack as she hid behind an oak tree. Quickly opening it, she put the ammo, med pack and helmet inside and zipped it. Putting the hand gun inside her pocket, she placed the shotgun behind her back and did the same for her rifle. She then looked to see the path was clear. Smiling, she climbed over and landed silently. She ran though the city.

(Next chapter Wil be here soon)