Chapter 4

For a full three seconds, Joe was too shocked to speak, then everything hit him at once. "No! Adam!" Joe's voice broke with terror and he wrenched his arms against the ropes. Adam must have nearly had him loose because one desperate pull snapped him free of the bonds.

Ignoring the man in the doorway, Joe crawled to his brother. "Adam?" Joe's trembling hands found the ominous moisture of blood soaking the front of Adam's black shirt. In the dark it took him a minute to find the actual wound just below his brother's right collarbone. Despite the close range, the bullet had not gone clear through. It was lodged deeply in Adam's shoulder.

"Adam? Come on, talk to me, please!" Frantically, Joe yanked off his jacket and pressed the hastily wadded fabric over the wound.

"What do you... want me to say?" The words were forced from between Adam's tight-clenched teeth. His eyes were shut and his entire face twisted in agony. Joe was surprised he was still conscious.

"Just stay with me, brother. I'll get you out of here somehow." Joe gritted his teeth as Adam groaned softly, wondering just how on earth he was going to do that.

"Touching." Ally had joined Emmet in the doorway, and was looking at them with a sneering expression that transformed her face into acute ugliness. If his arms hadn't been full of Adam, Joe would have liked to wrap his hands around her throat and squeeze.

She turned to her cohort. "Leave them here for now. He won't last long with a bullet in his shoulder, and if you guard the door this time," She glared meaningfully at the man. "Joe won't be going anywhere either. The other one should be coming along soon. We'll have to take care of him as well, since you bungled everything."

The door slammed shut again, leaving the two brothers in absolute darkness.

"Joe..."

"Right here, Adam." Joe tried to keep his voice steady, but the moment the door had closed his optimism had practically disappeared. He had no ideas and was terrified that his brother was going to bleed to death in his arms. He couldn't even see to do anything about it.

"You've got to...get out of here... before they find Hoss." Adam's voice had begun hoarse and weak, but as he spoke, it seemed to gain strength by sheer determination. "Joe, they didn't take my gun."

Little Joe blinked as realization hit him. "They didn't..." for a moment, hope filled him, then it was quickly dashed by rationalism. "Adam, even with your gun, one of them would shoot us before we got out."

Adam laughed softly. "I haven't got much to lose. You can get out, Joe. You have to try, before Hoss gets here. They've proven they're killers."

"I'm not going anywhere without you." Joe said firmly, tightening his hold on Adam's good shoulder.

"Joe-"

"I'm not! Don't even say that!" It was a whisper, but the intensity and stubbornness in Joe's voice might as well have made it a shout. He was worried about Hoss too, but Hoss could look after himself; Adam, at the moment, could not.

"Joseph Cartwright, shut up and listen to me!" Adam sounded so much like their father that Little Joe actually did shut his mouth.

"Think, Joe. Where are we?"

Joe sighed. "Adam, you need to rest."

"Do you remember when you were six years old and I took you up here with me to work that summer?"

"Yes..."

"Remember what you found?" Adam's voice was still firm, but his breathing was becoming labored and Joe could feel him sweating through the shirt fabric. At first, Joe thought his brother was sinking into delirium, but he suddenly remembered one of the highlights of that particular summer trip. He caught his breath.

"The tunnel!"

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AN// I know, its really short. The chapters get longer later on, believe me.