The Forsaken and Forgotten

Note: I feel like an idiot. I forgot to put Zep's message into the fic! Bear with me until I manage to get it in there. Thanks, people!

Lawrence

The cell phone continued to ring, grating on Lawrence's nerves and sanity. Over his own desperate screams, he could hear Adam screaming with him, begging him to calm down.

Larry heard none of it. Adam didn't matter. Nothing mattered except his wife, daughter, and Jigsaw's "game".

If he didn't get out of it, he'd never see them again.

With this thought, something in Larry's mind snapped. He made a decision.

It was unthinkable. Inhumane. Something a trapped animal would do, but something no human should ever do.

But that's what he was, right? Trapped. Like an animal.

Moaning, he began working at his blue shirt with fumbling fingers. He unbuttoned it halfway, and then ripped it off the rest of the way. Time was of the essence if he was gonna do what he planned without chickening out.

Pulling off his shirt, Lawrence wrapped it tightly around his leg, just above the manacle around his ankle. He put the sleeve in his mouth and, gritting his teeth, he picked up the hacksaw with one trembling hand, gripping his shirt with the other.

He put the teeth of the saw against his skin, and began to cut into his leg. Blood flecked and splattered onto the sleeve and onto Lawrence's face.

His own blood.

Through the pain and his own muffled screams, Lawrence barely registered the fact that Adam's screams were louder than his own.

Adam

The combined din of their screams, Adam's screams horrified and Lawrence's screams pained, reverberated off of the walls of the decrepit, foul-smelling bathroom.

Adam's stomach roiled as he watched the saw bite into Lawrence's leg. Suddenly, a horrible sound filled the room. Adam had never heard such a sound, but knew what it must be.

Metal cutting though bone. Falling to his knees, Adam retched. Nothing came up. It had been hours since he'd eaten. What would?

Adam kept his eyes on the floor, trying to drive both Lawrence's screams and the sight of his foot becoming more and more detached from his body from his mind.

It was impossible.

A gasp and a clang made Adam look up. He wished he hadn't.

Lawrence had finished the deed. He had thrown the saw aside, and was now inching his way towards the middle of the room where the poor dead man lay in a pool of blood.

Larry's severed foot lay forgotten in its manacle. His clothes were drenched with blood, becoming steadily redder as his ankle bled.

"What are you doing?!" Adam screamed, gasping. Lawrence reached the pistol, took it out of the dead man's hand, and loaded the bullet into it. Lawrence looked up at Adam, and raised the gun with a shaking hand. (Am I seeing what I think I'm seeing?) Adam wet himself as the gun was shakily aimed at his chest.

"Lawrence, no!" Adam pleaded, his hands held up in front of him, as though he thought they would protect him. "It wasn't me who did this to you!"
"You have to die," Lawrence groaned is a terribly hoarse voice. "I'm sorry." In his mind, Lawrence knew he'd never said anything truer than that apology. He really was sorry.

"No, please, I'm begging you!" Adam screamed. He began to move back and forth, trying to make himself a harder target, going as far as the manacle around his ankle would let him.

"My family…"

The gun went off. Adam let out a shrill scream. He felt his entire body go numb as the bullet went into him. He fell facefirst onto the tile floor. His head hit the floor hard, causing Adam to see stars.

The pain slowly began to set in. Adam felt none of it. The only thing Adam was aware of was the fact that his cellmate was sobbing.

Adam felt tears come to his eyes as his heart broke in two.

"Ahhh!!" Adam heard Lawrence scream. "I've done it!! Now show them to me!!"

Lawrence

Lawrence's chest ached as he sobbed into the floor.

His ankle felt as though it were on fire. It felt as though someone cut off his foot.

Oh, wait. Someone did cut off my foot. Me.

He had no idea where he was.

He cut off his own foot.

He feared his family was dead.

He shot a friend, who now lay dead just feet from him.

Lawrence lay immersed in his misery, praying for a miracle.

Suddenly, the door slid open behind him.

Blinking, Lawrence pushed himself up into a sitting position. He looked towards the door. He wanted to look Jigsaw in the face, to swear in his face that he'd burn in Hell if Lawrence had anything to do with it. He wanted to cause him the same pain he'd caused him, his family, and Adam. He'd kill him if he got the chance.

He looked at the figure in the door.

It was Zep Hindle, looking around, very confused, as if he couldn't believe his eyes. His face clearly said, "What the hell happened here?"

Hatred burned in Lawrence as he looked at Zep. His temper got a hold of him.

"You….you fucking bastard!" Lawrence cried. He weakly inched himself towards Zep. "I'll fucking kill you!"

Lawrence's bloody hand came within inches of Zep's ankle. Zep stepped out of Larry's reach, walked around the dead man's body, and over towards Adam's.

"You fucking….bastard!" Lawrence sobbed. He picked up the gun with which he had killed Adam, aimed it at Zep, and attempted to fire it. Out of bullets, it merely clicked every time the trigger was pulled. "I'll fucking kill you!"

Aiming his own pistol at Adam, he approached the young man's body and gave it a few hard nudges with his foot, just to make sure he was really dead.

Adam didn't move. He lay, still, on the floor.

Satisfied, Zep pointed his gun at Lawrence's head. Lawrence just looked back at him, shivering with pain.

"You're too late." Zep said. Lawrence couldn't help but notice Zep's voice shook a little.

"W-why?" Larry croaked.

"It's the rules." Zep replied.

He raised the gun. Cringing, Lawrence held up his bloody hands and bowed his head.

He knew it was over.

Suddenly, he heard a familiar yell.

Adam

After falling to the floor after getting shot, Adam lay still on the floor, the pain in his shoulder getting worse by the second.

He'd heard everything.

Lawrence crying.

Zep coming into the room.

Lawrence threatening to kill him.

He'd felt the couple of kicks Zep had given to his torso.

From the moment the little shit Zep came into the room, Adam knew that he must continue to appear dead, especially if he and Lawrence still wanted to win the "game".

He must not reveal himself to be alive until the right time.

"You're too late," he heard Zep say.

"W-why?" Larry's hoarse voice asked.

"It's the rules." Zep had replied.

Adam pictured Hindle pointing a gun at Lawrence. Poor, defenseless Lawrence.

At that moment, Adam knew it was time to act.

With a loud yell, Adam reached up and grabbed Zep around the knees. Caught by surprise, the small man came down.

Out of the corner of his eye, Adam saw Larry's head snap up, a look of utmost shock on his pale face.

Yelling, Adam and Zep grappled on the floor. Zep put the pistol to Adam's face, and, using his anger-fueled strength, Adam just managed to keep the pistol inches from his face.

The gun went off. The bullet went into the ceiling.

Caught by surprise, Zep's strong grip went slack. Adam wrestled the gun away from him and threw it aside. With a cry, Adam curled his hand into a fist and punched Zep hard in the jaw. Zep's head snapped to the right, and in the tiny second, Adam reached up and seized the toilet tank cover. Holding it in both hands, Adam brought it down hard on Zep's skull.

Before porcelain met head, Larry quickly looked away.

The lid came down on Zep's forehead. Adam felt his skull break.

Adam, screaming, brought the tank lid down again. And again. And again.

Blood appeared on the tank lid. Adam kept on hitting.

Lawrence

Larry, even in his weakened state, knew that Zep was dead. Adam was losing it.

Lawrence weakly crawled over to his cellmate, the sound of the tank lid hitting Zep ringing in his ears.

Adam brought the lid down again. Already badly cracked from the many blows to Zep's head, the lid broke in two.

Lawrence reached him. He reached up and gently but firmly took Adam's arm in his hand just as the lid was coming down again.

Lawrence felt Adam's entire arm stiffen. The tank lid tumbled out of his hand and clattered to the floor.

Adam, gripping his wounded shoulder, let out a long sob of pain.

Lawrence leaned close to him, their foreheads connecting. He calmly held Adam as the younger man began to cry.

"You're gonna be all right," Lawrence croaked. "You're just woun-wounded in the shoulder."

He put a cold hand to Adam's right cheek and gently caressed it, leaving a small streak of blood. Adam's sobs subsided slightly.

"I…have to go…and get help," Lawrence continued. Adam's head nodded against Lawrence's. Lawrence then said the thing that had been in the both of their minds since Larry's foot had been cut off.

"If I don't g-g-get help…, I'm going to b-bleed to death."

Lawrence felt Adam grip the sleeve of his white T-shirt. Adam sobbed harder.

"Don't leave me!" Adam pleaded. Lawrence nodded, and Adam shook his head against his. "No!"

Lawrence looked into Adam's worried, scared, tear-filled eyes. He gently put his hand behind Adam's head. Leaning forward, Lawrence gave him a gentle, calming kiss on the mouth. Lawrence felt Adam return the kiss.

They broke apart, leaning their foreheads together.

"Don't worry, I'll bring someone back," Lawrence whispered. "I promise."

Lawrence pulled away from Adam and began to crawl to the door. Adam began to whimper. Lawrence felt Adam's hand grip his wrist, and then felt his fingernails scrabble at his hand as Lawrence went farther and farther away from him. Reaching for him, Adam began to sob.

As Lawrence reached the doorway, he heard Adam scream.

"Lawrence?" Adam cried. "Lawrence!"

Lawrence felt his body weaken more. Nonetheless, he wrapped his arms around the pipe next to the door. Shaking, he looked back at Adam.

"We're gonna be OK?" Adam asked tearfully.

Lawrence looked into Adam's eyes. The young man wanted the truth, nothing else, and he knew Larry would give it to him. Larry responded with the only thing he could think of to say.

"I wouldn't lie to you."

Adam

Adam watched as Lawrence gave him a shaky smile. He turned away from him and continued his quest out the door.

Reaching a hand out towards him, Adam bit his lip. With a groan, he looked down at Zep's body. Wincing at the pain in his shoulder, Adam began searching Zep's pockets.

There had to be something helpful in there. A key, a cell phone, something.

The only thing in Zep's pockets was the bastard's wallet. With a frustrated groan, Adam tossed it away.

He felt inside Zep's jacket pockets.

There was something there.

Something hard. A cell phone?

Yes yes yes! Adam thought.

He pulled it out and saw it wasn't a cell phone.

It was a microcassette player, identical to the one that had played the messages Jigsaw had left to them.

Adam frowned.

What the fuck was Jigsaw himself doing with a player?

Unless this guy's not Jigsaw.

A small sliver of foreboding went through Adam.

Frowning, he pressed PLAY.

Adam stopped the tape. He didn't need to hear the rest.

One fact flooded his mind: the poor bastard he killed was not Jigsaw. He was just a pawn in Adam and Lawrence's game. The guy who had to do the dirty work of killing poor Allison and poor Diana in order to save his own ass.

Breathing heavily, Adam lowered the cassette player.

Jigsaw was still out there.

Suddenly, Adam noticed movement out of the corner of his eye. His eyes flickered to the center of the room.

He felt the little color that was left drain from his face.

The dead man was getting up. He was currently on all fours.

Mouth open in horror, Adam watched as the man, groaning, stretched and carefully got his feet. Putting his hand to the gory mess that was his head, the man pulled some of the "gore" off of his scalp.

Through his horror, Adam saw that the man was much older than Lawrence, as well as sickly-looking.

Adam's mind went back to the message Jigsaw had left for Lawrence. On the tape, Jigsaw had coughed.

This man was Jigsaw.

As soon as Adam realized this, every piece of the puzzle fell into place.

This man was John Kramer, the cancer patient Lawrence had told him about. Lawrence had been his doctor; hospital orderly Zep had idolized him.

This man was the one responsible for the deaths of so many people, including Steven Sing, one of the detectives who had brought Lawrence in for questioning.

This man had forced Zep to kidnap Larry's wife and daughter, had forced Lawrence to cut off his own foot and shoot Adam.

This man had put people in terrible, life-threatening situations.

Suddenly, Jigsaw spoke to Adam.

"The key to that chain…is in the bathtub," he croaked.

He pointed to the bathtub. Adam followed his gaze.

There was no key in the bathtub. Adam would have seen it.

Unless…

Adam was briefly brought back to the moment he woke up in the bathtub.

He remembered that, in his thrashing, his foot had caught around the chain of the drain plug, pulling the plug from the drain and causing the water to drain out of the bathtub.

The truth hit him with the force of a Mack truck.

The key was gone. It had slipped down the drain.

Adam's eyes widened and his mouth fell open as he realized this.

Jigsaw turned away from him. Quickly, Adam grabbed Zep's revolver and aimed it at the old man.

With surprising quickness, Jigsaw turned around and aimed a small remote at him. He pressed a button.

Immediately, volts of electricity coursed through Adam's body. He cried out as convulsions raced through his body. He collapsed on top of Zep's body and shook.

The electricity stopped. Adam remained sprawled on Zep's body, groaning and breathing heavily as his body recovered.

Adam then weakly looked up and saw through the haze on his vision that Jigsaw was walking towards the door. He pushed himself off of Zep and watched in shock as Jigsaw reached the doorway.

"Most people are so ungrateful to be alive," Jigsaw said. "Not you. Not anymore."

The old man's hand went the light switch. The lights flickered off. The only light in the room came from the hallway.

This guy isn't gonna do what I think he is, Adam's brain screamed. He wouldn't! He fucking wouldn't!

Adam began to scream.

"Game over," Jigsaw said with an awful finality.

With surprising strength, he slammed the door shut.

The entire room went black.

"NOOOOOOOO!!" Adam screamed. "NOOOO!! DON'T!! DON'T!!"

Adam kept screaming.

And screaming.

And screaming.

Lawrence

After leaving the bathroom, Lawrence immediately found himself in a hallway.

In his weakened state, it seemed to stretch on for miles.

He felt blood pour from his ankle. He was getting weaker by the second.

Gritting his teeth in determination, he kept crawling, distance be damned.

Too many people were counting on him.

Allison. Diana.

Adam.

Poor Adam. Wounded, crying, scared, with two dead bodies for company.

Lawrence thought of the kiss that they had shared before he had left. It still burned on his mouth.

He had given Adam the kiss as not only comfort, but also as an unspoken promise that he would come back for him.

He couldn't let him down.

Lawrence Gordon was a man of his word. At least, he would be if he got out of this, starting right now.

Lawrence kept going, his arms shaking so badly he could barely hold himself up.

He was almost at the end of the hall when he heard a terrible scream.

Adam.

What the hell could make him scream like that?

Suddenly, he heard a loud clang.

Adam's screams were now slightly muffled.

The bathroom door had slammed shut.

What the hell? Lawrence thought.

He heard footsteps coming towards him.

Weakly, he raised his head and looked behind him. A long streak of his own blood ran from his severed ankle, past a pair of bare feet, down to the bathroom door.

Lawrence looked up at the person now standing over him.

For a moment, Larry thought he had gone mad from blood loss.

The man who had lain dead in the middle of the bathroom floor now stood over Lawrence.

Gaping up at him, Lawrence recognized him. It was John Kramer, a patient of his whom was dying of cancer from a brain tumor.

"Help…me," Lawrence croaked weakly.

Kramer looked down at him with absolutely no emotion. He knelt down beside the dying doctor and looked into his eyes.

"Dr. Gordon, your fate is in your own hands," he said. "If you want to save your life and Adam's, keep crawling. But know this: you both failed your tests. You are unworthy of life. By all means, keep crawling, but it's doubtful you'll get much farther."

"You…fucking bastard," Lawrence spat. He was starting to feel sleepy. He knew that this was not a good sign.

Jigsaw didn't respond. He straightened up and walked down the hall. He opened a door and disappeared through it.

Lawrence, groaning, kept crawling. Kramer could fuck himself. He'd keep going until he got help. Or until he was dead.

He reached the door Jigsaw had disappeared through.

Using an arm for support, Lawrence reached an arm up to the door handle.

His fingers brushed the handle when he sank to the ground.

His eyes closed.

I am so sorry, Adam.

This was his last thought before he sank into oblivion.

Sweet oblivion.

Adam

Half conscious, Adam sat in the bathroom.

He knew that time had passed since Jigsaw had left him in there. Just how much time, Adam didn't know.

His stomach growled. Adam ignored it.

His shoulder seared with pain. Adam knew that the wound had long since become infected.

His throat was sore. It hurt to swallow.

His butt was numb from sitting on the tile floor for hours at a time.

His lips were dry. Ever since Lawrence had kissed him, Adam had not wet them.

He didn't want the taste of the kiss fade off of his lips.

As long as though the taste of Lawrence was on his mouth, they would both be OK.

He thought of Lawrence with a pang of longing.

He had never felt this way before, but knew what he was feeling: he loved Lawrence.

He knew he wasn't in love with Larry, but felt a fondness and respect he'd never felt towards another guy.

He knew Lawrence didn't love him, what he had done to save his family had proven that.

But still. What they had gone through together had to make them something, right?

Suddenly, everything that had happened to him within the last few days ran through his mind. Adam felt dizzy.

I'm going crazy, he thought. Whee!

His eyes drooped, and he felt himself slipping into unconsciousness.

Lawrence, where are you? I need you.

More time passed.

Adam knew he was dying.

Every physical pain Adam had been suffering had long since ended.

His shoulder had grown stiff and numb.

His empty stomach had stopped growling.

It was almost as though his body knew it was dying, and was telling Adam there was no point in hoping otherwise

If somebody didn't come soon, he'd die there.

Just as Jigsaw said he would.

Adam's head lolled on his shoulder.

He didn't have the energy to look up when the bathroom door opened.

A flashlight shone into the room. Someone entered.

He didn't move when the person shined their flashlight on him.

The person came over to him and knelt down beside him.

"Adam," a voice whispered in his ear. "Adam."

Adam was too weak to respond. The person put their hand in front of his nose. Adam was jerked awake by the sudden lack of oxygen.

"Lawrence…" he groaned, his head lolling to the side.

Lawrence had come back for him.

Thank God.

Lawrence gently took Adam into his arms and let Adam's head rest on his chest. Adam let himself fall into those warm, comfortable, safe arms.

He was saved.

"Lawrence…" he croaked again.

"I'm going to set you free," Lawrence whispered to him.

Adam rested against Lawrence, just wanting to die there. Adam felt Lawrence's arms leave him.

Suddenly, he felt an enormous pressure on his face.

He opened his mouth by reflex and breathed in.

He couldn't.

Something was in front of his mouth and nose, preventing air from getting in.

He opened his eyes and realized that Lawrence had put a sheet of plastic in front of Adam's face.

In panic, he began to thrash, trying weakly to throw Lawrence off of him.

It was impossible. Lawrence was too strong.

Suffocating, Adam shook his head violently. The plastic tightened.

A pain shot through his nose as the pressure broke it. Blood seeped from his broken nose and seeped into Adam's mouth.

Lawrence was crying.

It was at that moment that Adam realized that it wasn't Lawrence who was killing him.

It was a young woman.

A white light appeared in front of his vision. He felt his muscles weaken.

As he passed out, he knew Lawrence could not save him.

As of now, nothing could.

It's not wonderful, but let me know what you think! The "I'm going crazy" quote was something I found in Stephen King's bok "Pet Sematary". I just thought it would be useful here, plus it reminds me of Adam. No copyright infringement is intended, I respect Leigh, James, Darren Bousman, and Lionsgate too much to be disrespectful.