Blood. There was blood everywhere.
It trailed down Adam's arm as he hammered down on his captor's skull. He brought the toilet lid up and down as fast as his agonized shoulder would let him. The blood pulsed out of his gunshot wound and soaked his shirt. It was draining out of Lawrence by the second, threatening to take his one ally in all of this.
It forever stained the decrepit, disgusting bathroom, a painful reminder of everything this horrific place stood for.
There was blood everywhere.
But he had to push it aside. It didn't matter anymore. What mattered was him and Lawrence.
And if they had a chance of making it out of here once and for all, he couldn't let up.
It all felt like it was happening outside of his own mind.
There was less and less resistance as the skull Adam was beating on turned to nothing. This bastard had put them there, Adam was sure of it. Lawrence was sure of it. And that was enough for him to continue to wail on the guy after the skull gave way and only left mush behind.
The swings were the only things he could control here. The only choices he could make in this twisted game. They made him feel better.
So he swung again.
The lid snapped in half. Adam fixed his grip on it and raised it back up. He remembered the cries and the terror as Lawrence's family was taken from him. The sheer agony that came from the doctor.
He shouldn't be here. Neither of them should. They should be out of here, far away, living the lives that they had—
A pair of hands firmly grabbed Adam's arm, and he dropped the lid.
He collapsed to the ground, gripping his shoulder. And he screamed as he desperately drew himself closer to Lawrence.
Excruciating pain shot down his arm, bringing tears to his eyes. He rested his head against Lawrence's.
Help me, Lawrence. You've gotta help me.
But Lawrence had lost so, so much blood. Adam was still in his chain. How could they possibly get out of this?
Adam trembled as Lawrence stared at him.
"You're gonna be alright," Lawrence assured him. "You're just woun-wounded in the shoulder. I-I have to go, and get help. If-if I don't g-g-get help…"
The doctor's sunken eyes burned holes into Adam. Lawrence's pale skin was icy to the touch. He gripped Adam's arm, trembling with every word.
Uncontrollably shivering in his own skin.
Just like everything else that happened here.
Adam waited for more words. But all there was was Lawrence's gasping. Adam looked at the doctor, his face pushed up near Adam's and warping in his vision.
"I'm going to bleed to death."
No. Lawrence couldn't leave him. Not now. Not when Adam felt like at any minute, one more drop of blood would be spilled and he would be left to drown in it all. Not here, surrounded by limbs and corpses in his wake. Helpless.
Completely helpless.
Adam readjusted his grip, the blood threatening to send Lawrence sliding right out from under him.
"Don't leave me! No."
His last hope couldn't leave him. He had to know how much Adam needed him now.
But Lawrence turned regardless, shuffling away as Adam tried desperately to keep his grip on the doctor's arm. Adam cried and pulled himself as far forward as he could, but the chain kept him rooted in place.
He lost his grip on Lawrence when all of the fucking blood made his hand slip.
"No!"
And he couldn't get close enough to get him back.
"No! No! Don't!"
Because Lawrence couldn't leave. The one person Adam had. He couldn't leave too.
Lawrence turned around. "D-don-don't worry. I'll bring someone back."
But how could Lawrence do that? How did Lawrence expect to find his way through halls he didn't know, missing a foot? How could he possibly—
"I promise."
Lawrence started to leave again.
Alone. Here, of all places.
He would be alone here.
He told himself he couldn't doubt Lawrence now. Not after everything they had been through.
But in the aftermath of it all, Adam could see the life that had been sucked out of the doctor. It trailed behind him, their hope depleting with every passing second.
How could he possibly…
"Lawrence! Lawrence!"
Lawrence reached the doorway and turned again. Sweat dripped from his hair as he stared back at Adam.
Adam knew Lawrence was right. Every time the doctor looked at him, he looked weaker and more gone than the last. He needed to get help, right then, or there would be no Lawrence to come back and help in the first place. And his family, Alison and Diana, would be all alone too.
So Adam stared back at his last hope, tears flowing.
"We're gonna be okay?"
Because this was it, Adam would never be able to get Lawrence to come back now. Not when he was moments away from fading to nothing right in front of Adam.
He would have to wait here, in the terrifying remains of the carnage that surrounded him.
But he would get help, the doctor had promised. And Adam needed to remind himself of that.
Lawrence needed strength right now. He needed the reassurance that he was offering Adam, before going out to find the help that he had promised.
Courage and strength. Lawrence needed it now more than ever.
Adam could be that. He'd make himself be that. Someone to want. Someone to help them out of here.
"I-I wouldn't lie to you," Lawrence said through violent shakes.
And with that, he continued through the door.
Without Adam.
And Adam was alone.
Alone with corpses, and limbs, and all this blood.
He pitifully reached towards the doorway as the doctor left his line of vision. He threw his hand back down and stamped his foot, looking around at the nothing surrounding him. He didn't have a key, or help, or a person with him anymore.
There wasn't even a hacksaw Adam could use, like Lawrence had.
Not that it mattered anyway.
He could never bring himself to do it.
He wasn't brave like Lawrence. Wasn't smart like him, either. Adam had ruined that chance early on, after having another one of his senseless little meltdowns. The ones that always reminded him of why the world was always so pissed at him.
He needed to make this right. Somehow, Adam needed to find a way out of this.
A key. He needed a key.
He shuffled over to the corpse next to him, keeping his eyes focused away from its face. He refused to look at the aftermath of what he had just done.
Adam readjusted and started to search through the man's pockets. The shuffling forced a cry from his lips.
"Key."
He patted the man's chest and rested his chin against it after finding a wallet. He leafed through it, but he couldn't find a thing.
"Key, key!"
He must have missed it.
Next was the man's jacket. The pain radiated down Adam's arm, making him grit his teeth as he felt around the pocket.
He felt something.
He pulled the tape recorder out, eyes trained on it. His shaking hand bounced it around.
Why would this guy have a tape?
Adam's breath caught in his throat, and he pressed play.
"Hello Mr. Hindle."
Adam's labored breaths were drowned out by the booming voice that came from the tape.
It didn't make sense. None of this made sense.
"Or as they called you around the hospital, Zep."
Zep shouldn't have a tape.
"I want you to make a choice. There's a slow-acting poison coursing through your system, which only I have the antidote for."
Adam's gaze rested on Zep.
The man was long gone, the life beaten out of him. His blood stained the walls and his face was in pieces, littering the ground.
All along, he was just another pawn in all of this.
A pawn. Mangled, battered.
And Adam had done that.
In the midst of it all, he had killed one of the fucking pawns.
"Will you murder a mother and her child to save yourself? Listen carefully, if you will. There are rules."
Adam paused the tape and looked at the wall. He didn't want to know more about the man's test. About the cruel details, about the life Zep had just lost. What was the point, anyway? Zep had a chance, and he had fought to hell and back to make something out of it.
But Adam squashed all of his efforts in a matter of seconds.
Clueless. He was completely clueless.
Adam saw movement out of the corner of his eye.
And all he could do was stare.
He could only stare as the dead guy in the middle of the room rose from the ground on all fours, groaning and stretching like he had just woken up from a long rest.
Adam's gaze followed him.
Clueless.
Absolutely clueless.
Because what did Adam know? Lawrence was gone, Adam had mercilessly beaten Zep to a pulp, and the only person who was supposed to be dead stood there, ripping off the prosthetic that made the supposed gunshot wound.
The person looked at Adam and pointed behind him. And then he spoke.
"The key to that chain… is in the bathtub."
Adam whimpered and looked back at it.
No, it wasn't.
Adam was sure of it.
He had put photos in that bathtub, used it to hide every secret he wanted to keep from Lawrence. It was empty, only a few splashes of water here and—
Water.
The tub had been full when he woke up, but he felt his foot catch onto something. He didn't realize it at the time. He just wanted to get to the surface for air and—
Adam's eyes widened.
The key went down the drain. From the very beginning, his ticket out of here had left him too.
Adam looked back at the man. He could only think to stare, unblinking, still fighting for air.
He would rot away.
No way out. Because there was no key in that tub. And—
Adam didn't think. He snatched Zep's gun up from the floor, screaming as pain ripped through his shoulder.
The man grunted and pulled something out of his pocket, and the feeling came back.
He collapsed onto Zep as pain ripped through his entire body. His muscles wildly contracted as electricity shot through the chain. Through him. Every fiber was ripped apart and burned.
And all he could do was helplessly cry out.
When the feeling finally went away, he was sprawled out on the corpse, sobbing.
The man made his way to the hall. The same hall that Lawrence had just left Adam through.
This was it.
The man turned the lights off.
His figure was a silhouette in the green hue of the corridor. Adam inched forward as far as he could, face twisted in endless cries. He reached his hand out.
Again. Because he was about to be left again.
The man put his hand on the door, and he said what Adam knew could be the last words he'd ever hear.
"Game over."
Adam screamed at the door that sealed him in. He screamed at the man, and Lawrence, and the world, and himself as everything went black.
"Don't!"
He was trapped in the total nothingness that he was now condemned to rot away in.
He continued to cry out, his feral wails ricocheting off the walls. He stared at the spot where the door was, where all of his chances had left him.
And he did the only thing he could think to do. Maybe the only thing he would ever do as he turned to complete nothingness, matching everything around him.
He screamed again.
Author's Note:
Hey everyone! Thank you so much for checking this out! I have wanted to work on this project for ten years now, and I am so happy to get the first part of it out! Adam is the first character I really connected with (I watched at a young age haha) and I love writing about him. Hope you enjoyed, and I'm excited to show you the next part of his story!
This was co-written with my friend Velitor. We have been helping each other out with a lot of projects, so please feel free to check out her account as well!
Hope you enjoyed so far!