OUT THERE

Chapter Ten

"It's just that no one wants to be the one being rescued, we all want to do the rescuing." (Steve Brust, 'Iorich')

"What d'you mean?"

The second voice was also a whisper but, this time, Adam could tell that the speaker was a girl. And now he was truly afraid - because he knew. He knew who they were; and by some wretched twist of fate, they had chosen him for their next victim. How could that possibly be? Such a wild coincidence... or was it?

Curiosity battled with fear and won as he tried to roll over and catch a glimpse of their faces. Before he was able to do so, however, the sharp blade leapt to his throat and he froze.

"Please don't..." he breathed, ashamed of his cowardice even as he spoke the useless words.

"Let's cut out his pretty blue eyes," the first voice said quietly, right beside his ear.

"Can't we just knock him unconscious and leave him here?"

The girl was squeamish, then; a brief moment of hope for Adam that died away as the knife moved slowly along his cheek. He closed his eyes - as if that could stop them, he thought in despair. Biting back a scream, he wished with all his heart for Mac, or Danny, or someone to come to his rescue. But his friends were miles away, oblivious. He was all alone - and now he imagined them watching the footage of his murder, looking for evidence... oh God; and Sid...

The vision of his own autopsy was horrific. Adam clenched his teeth and summoned his courage. His left hand grabbed at the stranger's fingers, trying to dislodge the knife. At the same time, he kicked out wildly behind him - but the girl hopped away, squealing.

"Shut up," hissed her partner. "Leave it to me. I've got him, okay?"

The knee lifted. Adam took a grateful breath - just in time, as the first attacker sat down heavily on his back and twisted his left arm up behind him until he had no choice but to cry out in pain. It felt as though the muscles in his shoulder were being torn apart. The feeling was all too familiar. Deep inside Adam, a small boy was screaming as well...

He rolled with the stranger's grip, trying to ease the pain by turning into it, but a cruel hand slammed his head back down, filling his mouth with dirt. Waves of pain flared out from the bruise across his cheek and the world around him fractured.

... coldness, as the fabric of his shirt was slashed...

... a weight that crushed him and the scent of chemicals mixed with sweat...

... the hand of Death at his shoulder...

Nightmare, he thought, with sudden clarity. He was back in his nightmare. Any moment now, Dream-Haylen would appear, looming over him, and he would wake up at last - because no one ever really died in a dream. Did they?

The knife lingered next to his skin, tracing feathery circles on his shoulder blade. And then came a pain so bright that he simply could not stand it. Colours swam before his eyes, overwhelming him with their intensity; red, white... black. Not colour - absence, his brain insisted, as the world around him disappeared. The absence of anything...

-xx-

For a while, he drifted, leaving his body to take the punishment alone. His mind had found its way to a place of safety, long abandoned; a level of consciousness that felt no pain and did not see what was happening around him. The last time he had fled there, it had been Danny who brought him back to himself by the simple act of stepping into a warehouse and calling his name...

"Adam."

Two worlds collided and merged. Hope moved through him like a good spirit, pulling his ragged thoughts together and making him whole again.

"Danny...?" he croaked.

The answering laugh was unexpected and slightly breathless. "'Fraid not. He a friend of yours? I can call him if you like."

Adam frowned in confusion. The voice was familiar - a girl, for certain - but he couldn't seem to attach a name to it. Then you'll have to open your eyes, his brain insisted. Easy to agree; much harder to obey.

He lifted his head from the ground, ignoring the swell of nausea that accompanied this simple action. Far more disturbing was the line of fiery heat across his shoulder, and the slick, wet feeling of the shirt that clung to him in shreds.

"Be careful," his new friend advised. "That looks bad."

What did? What had they done? And how... oh God, how had he come to survive?

Adam cracked his eyes open, one lid at a time. His vision was blurry at first. A pale face swam before him, framed by a mass of long fair hair. He drew back in sudden fear.

"Hey!" The girl was startled and held up her hands in a sign of peace. "Don't you know me?"

The fog cleared - and all at once, he did.

"Jade?" he ventured. She sighed with relief.

"Oh, thank God; you're in there after all. Guess you're tougher than you look - right, Adam Ross?"

"Guess so." His voice was low and it shook as he tried to continue. "What...? Don't take this the wrong way, okay, but what...?"

"...am I doing here?" Jade gave a sly grin. "Maybe I was stalking you."

Once more he blanched - and she shook her head, grinning. "Joke. You got my letter, right? I came round to see if you were home from work, that's all. Good job, too."

"Then how...?" His brain refused to form a proper sentence, leaving him open-mouthed and floundering.

"Martial arts," she said, much to his bewilderment. "I dabble. First time it's ever come in handy, though."

He didn't really follow her explanation but he knew enough to thank her, and she smiled again. Reaching out, she helped him into a sitting position, avoiding his injured shoulder and taking his arms instead. Adam hissed at the contact. Jade's dark eyes looked sympathetic. "You need help," she said firmly. "Who can I call? 911? Kevin? Your crime lab...?"

Adam shook his head. He felt so ashamed. Bad enough that Jade had seen his weakness, never mind his colleagues or her cousin. Still, he knew that she was right. With trembling fingers, he felt in his pocket and found to his amazement that his cell phone was still there. An unexpected name had popped into his head - not a close friend, but someone that he trusted beyond all doubt - and he searched for the contact, pressing the key and waiting as the dial tone sounded. Jade watched him, full of curiosity.

"Yes?" The greeting was short and slightly terse, as though the man on the other end was in a hurry.

"I'm sorry... Detective Flack, it's Adam. You know; Ross. I... I kinda need your help. Please," he added politely.

"Shoot."

"What? Oh! I see; you mean... okay, it's just that..." He paused and Jade nodded her encouragement.

"Get to the point, Ross," Flack said, none too patiently.

So Adam did.

-xx-

Flack's arrival was swift. Adam supposed that he must have been in the neighbourhood - at Stella's crime scene? No, wait; that was hours ago... He groaned in confusion and scrubbed his aching head.

Jade was the lookout and, as soon as the lanky detective stepped out of his car, she led him through the gateway into the yard. Adam scrambled to his feet and immediately wished that he hadn't. Leaping forwards, Flack caught him as he swayed and lowered him back down to the ground where he sat, cross-legged, like a dejected gnome.

"You look like hell," Flack observed, crouching beside him. His blue eyes shone with concern. "Don't worry; the others are on their way."

"No - wait... I called you..." Adam shook his head unhappily and Flack looked troubled.

"No choice, I'm afraid. You've been mugged, Adam. This is a crime scene; you know that."

"Yeah, and I'm the victim." The bitterness of his reply surprised even him.

Flack nodded. "Victim - not corpse," he said softly. "There's a difference. Think on that, okay?"

"I do. I am. I'm sorry." A lone tear slipped from the corner of his eye before Adam could stop it, and trickled down his cheek. Flack's mouth took on an angry twist.

"You see who did this?" he demanded.

"No..." Adam's voice was barely a whisper. "I tried..."

"They sat on him," Jade supplied helpfully. "Face down on the ground. He was unconscious when I found him. I doubt he's with it even now; just take a look at his face."

"Okay, thanks." Flack gave her a strange look.

"Jade Tomlin," she said. "Friend of Adam."

Friend? Adam opened his mouth to protest, but the conversation had already rolled on without him, like a rock down a mountainside. He couldn't help but notice Flack's hostility. What was that all about?

"Jade," he echoed. "And you... what? You 'found' him?"

"Heard him screaming before he passed out." Jade gave little away as she told the bare facts of her story. Was she protecting Adam - or herself? He began to feel a twinge of doubt. How had she come to save him so neatly? Tossing her long hair over her shoulder, she continued. "Took me a while to find this place. When I came through the gate, one of them fled right away. I pulled the other one off him and we struggled - not for long, though. I've got moves." She grinned.

Flack looked around the empty yard. Adam did the same, noticing for the first time how bare and ugly it was; a square of grey dirt surrounded by a peeling wooden fence that was covered in coarse graffiti. The only signs of life, apart from Jade and the two men, were the weeds; and not even a child could have hidden behind the largest clump. A second gateway led to an abandoned block of apartments. It was standing open.

"And then?" Flack prompted.

"And then they got away." Jade shrugged and pointed to Adam. "My first priority was him. I'm sure you'd agree with that, Detective. I wasn't about to go racing off down some twisting maze of back-alleys after God-knows who, leaving Adam alone and unconscious." Her eyebrows lifted and she met Flack with a challenging stare. "Believe me, or don't believe me. That's what happened."

Adam tried to picture the scene. In his mind, the colours were game-bright and Jade was a powerful avatar, fighting her way to his side. Which made him...

A loser, he thought. Weak and useless. Self-pity was creeping up on him and he was finding it hard to resist.

"Then you saw what they looked like," Flack prompted.

"Not really. One was a girl; I could tell that much, even though I only saw the back of her. They both wore dark hoods pulled right over their faces - no imagination. The second one was skinny, but kinda strong. Smelled funny, too."

A scent-memory caught at the back of Adam's throat, making him gag. Flack turned to him at once. "I'm sorry," he said. "We should save all this for later. You won't mind coming down to the precinct and making a statement, right?" he added, throwing the casual request in Jade's direction. "You know where it is, after all..."

Once again, Adam got the feeling that he was missing something vital. Jade coloured, but kept her composure. "I can do that," she said.

Beyond the fence, a car pulled up. Adam recognised the heavy purring sound and his heart gave a strange little leap. Footsteps tumbled out of the Avalanche and a breathless figure burst through the gate.

Lindsay. Not the person that he had expected. And yet, when she bent down and peered at his face, the sight of her warm brown eyes, so kind and so distressed, made him melt completely. All pretense at self-control was gone. Adam dropped his head into his hands, trying to hide the treacherous flow of tears. Lindsay slipped her arm around his shoulder - and pulled away in shock as he flinched. Her sleeve was covered in blood and she stared, aghast, before circling round to study his back. Flack and Jade moved to join her.

Silence.

"What?" Adam whispered, fearfully. The wound was even harder to ignore now that so many eyes were upon it.

"Oh - it's not that bad," she told him. "Looks worse than it is, I'd say."

"And what does it look like?"

"There's a lot of blood - I guess you know that - but it's stopped flowing." Lindsay faltered. "It looks... it looks like they carved something into your shoulder..."

"It's an eye," Jade added bluntly. Flack swore under his breath.

For a moment, Adam said nothing. Then he let out a high-pitched giggle. "That's insane," he gasped. "You're kidding me, right?" Twisting round, he pleaded with his eyes. "Right, Lindsay?"

"Adam, I'm sorry..."

He pulled back and clambered to his feet once more. "No. This is wrong. It's all wrong. I... I think I'd like to go home now..." There was an urgent noise in his head, like the beating of wings. Madness, overwhelming him. "Take me home," he demanded. Why would no one listen...?

"Adam!" Flack's voice cut through his panic, snapping him back to his senses. He stood on his own, swaying gently, mouth open in shock. Behind him, the rolling sound of a siren drew closer.

"Oh!" he said; a soft explosion. "That was dumb. I'm so sorry, okay?"

And then, with a comical look of dismay, he let go of everything and the ground swung up to meet him.

-xx-

A/N: Hope you enjoyed the update! And thank you to everyone who has been reviewing - your comments are such fun to read.