From darkness we last left, to darkness we return, our characters await. Time is passing for them, they know not our thoughts, how we root them on (or how you guys are awesome and have been rooting us on with your fantastic reviews). The darkness still continues to close in on our cast ... It's all closing in now. Who will be the first to break ...




Lying In Wait 3

Hide and Seek

"I'm wondering which is worse... Your movie impressions or Adam's jokes ... Both are pretty bad." Lindsay mused. Hawkes could almost see her roll her eyes. He couldn't repress the snicker.

"I'm sure we could come up with something more productive with all these degrees lying around here," there was an uncharacteristic bitterness in his voice.

"The degrees don't do you much good when you're lying flat on the floor in a pile of glass." Danny huffed.

"You could figure out how to get us out of here." He recognised Flack's sarcasm instantly.

Hawkes shifted and felt more glass crunch underneath him, and winced. There were splinters in his shirt, starting to prick through to his skin. Moving carefully, he felt around his middle and stomach. There did not seem to be any damage. None that he could feel anyhow. Yet. With all that glass and all those bullets, there had to be some injuries somewhere. It was all too good to be true that they had escaped without so much as a scratch. They seemed to have escaped anyhow. In the back of his mind, there was a shadow lurking, which was nothing to do with the lack of lights in the bar. Something was waiting for them, darkness shimmering on the edges. He could feel it.

Maybe Danny's idea then wouldn't be such a bad idea. Hawkes knew just for himself he needed something to take his mind away from dark predictions of the future.

But maybe bad movie impressions wasn't quite the thing. It seemed Flack also had some issues with that; as Hawkes brought his mind back to the current situation, he realised that his two friends were still sniping at each other.

"We can't move." Flack reminded him in the tone of voice that might be used to a small child.

Danny hit back immediately, "You got any brighter ideas then Flack?"

"Anything would be a brighter idea than listening to your bad movie impressions in the pitch dark. They aren't impressive in the daylight. Or suggesting I Spy. That hits an all time record of stupidity..."

There was a gasp from somewhere. Possibly where Hawkes guessed Lindsay was lying. And he winced. There was a whoosh of breath from Danny, and then he spoke in a dangerously quiet voice.

"You calling me stupid, huh? Or Lindsay?"

"Danny..." she warned.

"Because that is out of order, man."

"If that's how you interpret it, then..."

"Hey! That's enough you two!"

Unmistakably Lindsay's voice. Hawkes grinned; if anyone could keep Danny in order, it was his wife. That thought made him pause. Lindsay was Danny's wife. It was still taking him time to get used to the fact that Danny Messer was a married man. And a father. To Lucy. A surge of sympathy crashed through him then, realising how the two of them must be feeling at this point, being without Lucy, for however long they'd been there. No wonder Danny seemed ornery. Sid too, Hawkes realised, would be wondering about his wife and daughters. Would they be missing him? Would time be going on without them all?

Who was waiting on him at home? Why couldn't the Doc get his own girlfriend? One that would still around for more than an hour ... he had a degree. A good job.

And enough of a sense of humor that he could put up with Danny.

But man. Five years was a long time. A long time.

A sudden horror gripped him then as a thought inveigled his mind. What if the world passed by without them? Forgot they were there? Passed on uncaring and left them behind in a strewing of glass and confusion. What if when the lights came back, years and years had passed, and their friends and family were gone...

Further horrors assailed him then; what if the lights never came back? what if they were there forever? Hidden away, with no one looking for them? Trapped forever in a bar with Danny and Flack sniping at each other...

Oh the tension built up, catching his breath

"Guys!" He had to speak, and if his voice came out with a choke at the end, well, he didn't care then. He needed to speak and prove he was alive.


And so we leave them once again ... two more voices wait to speak.

And something dark awaits them just outside their reach.