"MOVE!" 

"DRIVE! DRIVE, DAMN YOU, DRIVE!" 

"OOOHHHH SHIIIIT!!" 

Both parties disbanded their standoff in order to preserve their lives from a painful, horrifying death as the colony swarmed their escape, thus leading them from the river where they spawned out of the tunnels. Spencer and Johnson fuddled around with the siafu swarming them all the while the other three drove towards the river. More Germans filed into the open area, inadvertently leading themselves to their doom. 

"DAVID!!" Lara boomed at her husband. 

He looked around and spotted Johnson Jon-Johnson pounce him from behind, throwing them and the skull off the DUKW. Due to how unsecure the bag containing the skull was, the object slipped right out, which in turn created a small circle for both men to clash as the ants swarmed around them but towards the others. Both men raised their fists up, panting heavily due to how much they exerted themselves in the entire pursuit and fleeing the ants. 

"Bring it on, cowpoke!" Johnson growled. 

David puffed, "Gladly." 

And so, the two men clashed. They constantly traded blows and grabbed each other in order to deliver more precise strikes. Their drive in dominating the other in combat was fierce, but their stamina was running short, to the point that they drew knives to satisfy their own bloodlust. Lara and Jessica watched from afar as the two men wrestled to the ground with David on the receiving end of Johnson's blade itching towards his chest. 

David squirmed, grunting profusely as he fought with all his might to prevent the blade from entering his chest. But with a surprised twist, David managed to drive the blade back at its owner, catching Johnson by surprise when it embedded itself in the centre of his chest. He stifled a grunt, followed by a deathly rattle as he fell onto the ground on his back with David holding his head up as he regarded his final moments with one last sliver of honour. 

As he watched his enemy die in his arms, David removed the blade, sliding it back in its holster before he placed the hat on his chest with one hand on the top of said hat. Slowly, David stood up and positioned himself at Johnson's feet before kicking dust at his corpse as a sign of respect which was loosely believed to be a final act of dignity to the fallen. 

In this case, David had done just that. Retrieving the skull, David was picked up by his wife and Jessica before they drove straight for the river. Being a car made for land and water, they had no issue in being caught by the stream that pulled them to what they were oblivious to. It was too late when the three realised that they were about to get pulled off a waterfall. The first was so unexpected that the three had no time to brace themselves properly when they fell. 

The second drop was the same as the first: each drop they all lost their place in the DUKW but managed to find their way back on board in time for the following drop. But when the third came, they completely abandoned the DUKW and settled for land. Upon setting his eyes on his wife, David scrambled over to her and threw his arms around her. 

"Are you okay, my love?" Lara spoke with expressed relief. 

"Yeah... you?" David replied on short breath. 

The two embraced in a tight hug which was quickly interrupted by Jessica presenting the skull in the bag that she carried. 

"Where to now?" 

David frowned, his hand subconsciously pointed upwards in the direction they were to go: to a cliff-face that resembled a skull. The further they progressed, the more challenges they stumbled upon along the way: they were met by natives as the final defence for the site they ventured into. For them discovering the site also helped the German's do the same. It left one question remaining: what would happen if they returned the skull?

Through a series of tunnel networks did the trio find themselves passing through a room filled with a great many artefacts that were as old as the pyramids. Eventually, they stumbled into a room filled with irregularly shaped skeletons seated on thrones. Each skeleton looked uniquely the same. The sounds of guns cocking startled the three altogether where they found Spencer and a few remaining German soldiers with guns pointed at the trio.

"Daddy. Please, don't do this." Jessica begged.

The older gentleman stared coldly into his daughter's eyes which caused her to freeze. She could see behind his eyes that there was nothing behind them. No emotion. No essence of the man he once was. All that was left was his hollow shell and it frightened Jessica.

"Get. Back! Give me the skull." Spencer barked authoritively.

Defiantly, Jessica put her foot down and refused to comply with her father's demands, which in turn infuriated him. As a result, Spencer pulled back on the trigger of his handgun which in turn embedded a bullet in Jessica's lower abdomen. Jessica let out a yelp as the bullet took instant fatal impact on her as she fell backwards, caught in Lara's arms.

The skull rolled out of her hands towards her father, who in turn grinned smugly as he stared at it for a full minute while his own daughter laid on the ground, bleeding out very quickly. Even his own men found discomfort in his actions, thus making them question whether he wouldn't turn on them and kill them where they stood. 

With her dying breath, Jessica watched everything before her unfold. David and Lara stood tensely as Spencer delivered the skull to the one skeleton that lacked a head. He looked up in glory and avarice as he returned the skull, not before making a sudden repayment for his deed of returning what was lost. He desired knowledge. But knowledge was something the strange creature that reanimated once the skull was reattached kept sacred.

"Honey...?" Lara muttered softly.

"I've got a bad feeling about this." David responded in a mumble.

His hand found his wife's and gripped on tightly which she did the same as they watched the room alternate its appearance. Everyone in the room had a fairly good idea of where they really were in the chamber where their escape seemed quite dire. With their enemy's attention so heavily drawn on the figures in the room, David and Lara snuck out when they could which alerted soldier's of their escape. 

Their attempt to pursue them was cut short by a mechanism that prevented them from escaping. David and Lara moved as quickly as their legs could take them through every route they could take to escape the destruction of the entire city. Perching up on a high vantage point, the two watched on as the entire city structure collapsed; pieces of cobblestone and rock got flung everywhere as an alien ship ascended from the carnage. 

Speechlessly, David held his wife's hand more loosely as the ship quickly vanished from site, leaving what pieces that ascended to crumble down as well as the river to flood Akator; to disperse its riches and plunder underwater, never to be discovered again. The young couple sighed in relief that it was all over. Their arms wrapped around each other's backs, pulling each other closely shoulder to shoulder as they watched the water flood the city now lost once more. 

"So that's it." 

"You think so?" 

"Oh, I know so." 

"So what do you think we should do now, my love?" 

"Go home, relax, and finally retire like we should've a long time ago." 

"I'm down for that - if it means we get to cuddle all night and love our children all day." 

Now facing each other very intimately with only a few inches gap between their faces, the lovers pressed their lips together and shared a fond kiss before they took their leave after soaking in the view for one last time - for both Akator and their final adventure together. 

THE END!!!