Adam didn't know how long he sat there looking at his hand, studying it. Small circles were littered along, some faint from where the cigarettes grazed him, some deep where they were forced hard against his skin.

They all still felt like they were on fire.

And Scott had done that.

Maybe he misunderstood? He could have thought Adam needed something from…

'You're smarter than that'

Adam thud his head against the wall. He didn't know if that note was left by his captors, or if Lawrence had managed to leave it there. But Adam read it in the doctor's voice. It was comforting, he supposed.

At least, separate from what just unfolded in that room. Separate from the eerie foreshadowing the simple words held.

Lawrence would have smacked the crap outta Adam if he tried to pull a stunt like that.

"Maybe I have a thing or two to learn from you, doc."

Adam had done some dumb stuff in that bathroom. Mistakes that screwed him over and could have made things harder for Lawrence, too. But his recklessness and stubbornness had been nothing compared to Scott shoving Adam to the floor and disobeying the tape for the sake of control. For the sake of his ego.

That was idiotic.

Adam closed his eyes and curled up tighter.

What would Lawrence do?

The door next to Adam swung open, and he jumped. Scott emerged from it, peeking his head around in search of him.

Adam scowled.

You have got to be fucking kidding me.

Scott was holding one of the cigarettes between his fingers. Toting it around like it was just another smoke from the shady gas station he liked going to.

"Seriously?" Adam asked coldly.

Scott took a deep puff from his cigarette. "Looks like someone needs a smoke break."

He took his other hand out from behind his back and showed Adam a second cig. He held it near Adam, close to his face. "Tada!" he said with a sing-songy lilt.

Adam grit his teeth and recoiled. Just the sight of the thing made his eyes water and his hand burn. Nausea returned, too, as he scooted a few inches away.

"Get that thing away from me."

"Dude, listen—"

Adam sprung up, doing his best to push the dizziness aside. "No, no, you listen. You almost got us killed! We could have died in there, Scott! Do you get that?"

Even when Adam was at his worst and terrified out of his mind in the bathroom, he had never done something that idiotic. That self-destructive.

"Adam, you need to chill. You should have—"

"Do not pin this on me! The tape told us point blank that I was supposed to read that clue. But you refused to even let me try!"

Adam paced around and ran his fingers across his face. Fresh blood — from his nose, maybe, but he wasn't sure — made his hands slip, smearing more across his skin.

"Hell, I could've gotten us outta there in fifteen seconds. I shouldn't have had to reach in there at all."

He shook his hand when it started to throb again. All the movement was killing him. But he couldn't stop—

"Look, your hand will be fine."

"That's not the problem, and you know it."

The problem was that Adam didn't have a damn clue who he could trust anymore. Everyone around him seemed to be a pawn, a psycho, or reckless.

Lawrence. Lawrence was the single exception. But everything — everyone — was trying to keep him from the doctor.

Scott walked closer to Adam, letting their noses touch. "You're pissing me off. If you had just listened—"

"Back off, Scott."

Adam was sick of it. Sick of the lies, the tricks, the blame being thrown on him.

He had messed a lot up in his twenty-five years. But he sure as hell didn't deserve the blame for this.

"If I had listened," Adam continued, "we would be dead. In there, surrounded by flames. You feeling in control is not worth our lives."

"Well, if your dumb ass took in your surroundings—"

"That's what I wanted to do from the very beginning, dammit!"

Adam wanted to apologize for acting this way with Lawrence. The arguments. They must have been infuriating.

Scott stared silently with a clenched jaw as Adam raised his bad hand. He waved it back and forth as if he were parading it around for the entire world. "Look at my damn hand, man! You did that. You…"

He lost his breath. He steadied himself by resting his good hand on his knee.

He couldn't back down. Not now.

"…almost got us killed," Adam whispered.

That was the best he could do. His racing heart felt like it would burst inside of him. He heaved in and out, willing his vision to return. He looked up and made out the silhouette of Scott standing there with his arms crossed, calmer than before.

"If this is about the cigarette, I…" Scott shuddered and pointed to the cigarette, now dropped and abandoned on the floor. "I didn't know. I thought you would like it."

Adam sighed.

Whether it was a misunderstanding or not, they were stuck here for now. And Lawrence's truth in the bathroom was just as valid here, too. He had been right — he always was.

There was no sense in them not helping each other.

"Look, we've gotta stick together." Adam held out a hand to Scott. "You wanna work together? Then let's work together."

He looked at the silent man in front of him. Scott's mouth was hung open, a look of genuine confusion on his face. His eyes darted around, trying to read Adam.

Adam silently took his hand back, a thin frown pressed across his lips.

Whatever.

He spun around without another word, leading the way back through the hall. The door they had come through led them to the furthest left point of a hall, so they turned right. Adam looked around, keeping an eye out for any more slips of paper while they marched on.

They found themselves walking back towards the middle room with the staircase.

"Nowhere left to go but up," Adam murmured.

He lightly gripped the railing, the steps creaking underneath him. He readjusted his grip with each step and kept his eyes on the top. Despite the slow pace of his movements, he felt the thud in his chest with each step. His breaths grew more and more shallow.

He reached the top and rested against the wall, waiting for Scott to join him.

Scott with his rough, heavy steps that caused the stairs to shake.

As Adam placed his hands on his knees and waited for his vision to clear, he remembered when they were kids. When Scott had convinced Adam to throw the life he had worked for away.

Adam was about to start the second half of junior year — high school, not college, Adam never made it that far. Scott had just had his seventeenth birthday, and the milestone got him thinking about taking the band more seriously.

"I have an idea," Scott had told Adam.

Adam had just finished a project that he knew would not do well. He had stayed up all night working on the thing, but naturally, he just couldn't put the content into words like he was supposed to.

He had straightened up from his desk, grumbling at the interruption. "Yeah?"

"Wrath of the Gods!"

Adam chuckled and put his pen down. There was no use in trying to take notes on how to make it better. May as well blow off some steam with his friend.

"That might be the stupidest name you have ever come up with." Scott rolled his eyes and Adam smiled. "I like it."

Scott's face lit up, and Adam couldn't help the pride he felt in his friend's efforts. The happiness and passion he saw in his friend hadn't shown up often since childhood, and Adam had always tried to do everything he could to help him out.

All he hoped was that Scott would stick by him when he figured out his own, less interesting ambitions.

He told Scott, "Don't forget about me when you're making it big, alright?"

Well, that wording sucked.

Adam shuffled around and awkwardly gave Scott a playful punch on the shoulder. They stared at each other in silence before bursting into laughter.

"The fuck is that supposed to mean?" Scott asked.

"No idea."

When the laughter died down, Adam looked back at his desk and the project that had drained everything from him for the past few days. Scott had just dropped out as a birthday present for himself, and he seemed to be having so much fun.

Meanwhile, Adam had been laboring over some English paper that had nothing to do with vet school or what he wanted to be doing.

Scott stepped forward. "That assignment done kicking your ass?"

"Yeah, I just kinda gave up and hoped for the best."

"You know, we could use help. Drums and pictures."

Adam looked at the ground. Why did Scott keep pushing this? Every time they had this talk, Scott would try to convince Adam to drop out on his birthday too. Ruining his chances of ever accomplishing what he was working so hard for.

"You know what I wanna do, Scott."

Then Scott replied with the same phrase he always used. The one that eventually would convince Adam to leave all of his dreams in the dust, and instead, into the crappy and uneventful life he had become used to by now.

"That's just a pipe dream, and you know it."

Adam's vision started to clear, and Scott neared the top of the old steps.

Just like every other time Adam thought about that night, he tried to figure out an excuse. Maybe Scott genuinely believed in Adam, and it was all a mistake? Maybe Scott wasn't using him, and it was all a grand plan that had just gone wrong.

'You're smarter than that.'

He was so sick of being a tool, a pawn in other people's stories.

Lawrence had been forced into it. A consequence of their situation.

But Scott had lied every step of the way.

And Adam had fallen for it again.

What would Lawrence do?

Scott reached the top, clutching the rails with both hands. He was sweating, gasping for air. He reached the final step, and he collapsed on the ground.

"Scott!" Adam yelled as he sprinted back to him.

Adam got on his knees and turned Scott onto his back. He strained, arms screaming with the effort it took to help Scott against the wall.

If he was breathing this stuff in too…

Adam tried not to think about it. He had hoped that this was all just Adam's sick game and that Jigsaw and his little group had given Scott some kind of antidote.

But the man's skin was sickening, ghostly white, and hot to the touch. He was dripping with sweat, drained of all his energy from the stairs.

Adam looked up at the clock.

Forty-three minutes remained.

Scott had been stuck here for a bit more than an hour.

About how long it took me to get sick.

Scott panted. "I, I don't know what happened, man. I was fine and it just…"

This nerve agent had done it to Adam, too. It was unpredictable, impossible to guess when you would start to feel it.

"Hit you like a truck?"

The silence answered Adam's question for him.

Adam frowned at the sweat-soaked hair that clung to Scott's forehead. Several strands rested on the whites of his eyes, moving around every time the man blinked.

It looked uncomfortable.

But Scott didn't have the energy to move them out of the way.

Adam gingerly brushed the strands out of his eyes.

I know, man. I know.

Scott took in a sharp breath. "Don't leave me, man, I…"

Adam shook his head and grabbed Scott by the shoulders. Tears clouded his vision as he looked at the person in front of him. Scott always had this outgoing, brute force to him that made itself known to everyone around him. A part of him that got them in trouble more often than Adam ever wanted to admit.

But it's who he was, and Adam already missed it.

Scott looked scared.

And Scott never looked scared.

"Never," Adam told him.

He couldn't see himself hanging around with Scott anymore when this was all over. The life that Adam knew was long gone.

And that was okay.

But he would never abandon the person who needed him.

It wasn't long ago when Adam was the helpless and terrified one, forever tethered to the hell he had created. And in that moment, despite the frustration he had caused, Lawrence had promised to help him.

And somehow, he had delivered on that promise.

He stuck with the person who needed him more than anything.

That's what Lawrence would do.